DG urges Uhuru to mediate Ruto-Raila impasse

With various players in the country’s political scene calling for sobriety and dialogue, Machakos deputy governor Francis Mwangangi now wants former President Uhuru Kenyatta (pictured) to suspend his international engagements and play a father-figure in Kenya.
Mwangangi, a student of international relations, says it would be foolish for the former Head of State to actively engage in mediating conflicts in other parts of the world while Kenya is burning.
As an African statesman, Mwangangi proposed, Uhuru should play a neutral role by reaching out to both the Kenya Kwanza and Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Alliance for reconciliation. “Being the only living former head of state, Uhuru should take advantage of the opportunity to join religious leaders and other eminent African persons to end the stalemate between the two warring factions,” Mwangangi said.
Umbrella think-tank
He urged all Kenyans and political leaders to accord the former President the deserved due respect and stop mudslinging him.
He said the former head of state deserves to be treated courteously and criticised some unnamed leaders treating him with contempt.
At the same time, the United Asian Network (UAN), a not-for-profit, non-religious and a nonpolitical organisation formed to act as an umbrella think-tank and facilitator of cross-community collaboration of the Asian Community in Kenya, wants President William Ruto and Azimio leader Raila Odinga to dialogue.
UAN spokesman Dr Bimal Kantaria also urged Raila to call off the demonstrations to give dialogue a chance, saying that though his intentions mean well for the country, the consequences are dire for the country.
“However noble his intentions are and as much as we recognise and accept that it his constitutional right to call for peaceful protest and demonstrations and accepting that they are intended to be peaceful, the demonstrations have resulted in violence as well as caused loss of lives and immense damage to properties and has also resulted in tremendous losses in business,” Dr Kantaria said.