Deputy President William Ruto has called on Kenyans to embrace peace ahead of August polls while addressing mourners at the burial of the late President Mwai Kibaki in Othaya, Nyeri County.
During his address at the Othaya Approved School on Saturday, April 30 the Kenya Kwanza leader stated that it would be unnecessary to have a handshake if the elections were peaceful.
He opined that Kenyans owed it to the late President by having a peaceful General Election.
"I think a befitting send-off to all of us as we celebrate the third president is for us to go into this elections and make sure the elections will be peaceful and that it won't be necessary to have a handshake.
"I think we owe it to President Mwai Kibaki as we send him off," he stated.
Ruto made the remarks in the presence of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his handshake partner former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
The DP has remained a fierce critic of the March 2018 pact between President Kenyatta and Odinga, claiming that the former Premier hijacked government and derailed the Jubilee party's agenda.
Ruto's sentiments came after Nyeri Catholic Archbishop, Anthony Muheria, who was presiding over the event, asked the speakers to refrain from making political statements at the function
"The family of former President Mwai Kibaki has requested that he be sent off in the same way he lived; with simplicity. We will not include politics in our speeches but rather give our tributes as a nation and as people of God," he stated.
Earlier, Raila recounted how he shook hands with the late President after the disputed 2007 polls describing Kibaki as a patriot who put the country first.
The 2007 contested polls plunged Kenya into post-election skirmishes before Kibaki and Odinga agreed to work together in the Grand Coalition government.
The former premier recounted the lengthy discussions he had with Kibaki during negotiations that were led by the late UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, stating that the late President's accommodative nature helped his administration achieve much.
"Kibaki was someone with clear foresight and is ready to negotiate and take in news ideas. He managed to open the government and get ne progressive ideas about development," he stated.
Notably, Ruto and Raila who are the front runners in the forthcoming polls were on the same side in the run-up to the 2007 elections, under the Pentagon formula. The team also had Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala, ANC party leader Musalia Mudavadi, and the late Joe Nyaga, who represented the Mt Kenya region.
