File photo of Raila Odinga (L) and Uhuru Kenyatta (R).
NAIROBI, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday held talks with opposition leader Raila Odinga and pledged to set the country on a path of healing and reconciliation after a fractious electioneering period.
The two leaders who had earlier held a lengthy closed door meeting said at a joint news conference that they were committed to join forces and heal divisions occasioned by two presidential elections in August and October last year.
"We have agreed that Kenya is greater than any individual and as leaders we have a duty to find solution to what ails the country," Kenyatta said while flanked by Odinga, the leader of the main opposition coalition, National Super Alliance (NASA).
Both leaders shook hands to signal their commitment to ending a political stalemate that has worsened ethnic and sectarian divisions in Kenya thus eroding its status as a regional economic powerhouse.
Kenyatta met his main rival amid push by foreign diplomats, business executives and clerics for the two leaders to hold dialogue aimed at ending the political crisis in the country.
The rare meeting of scions of Kenya's founding fathers elicited mixed reactions but there was a common feeling of optimism.
"Elections come and go but Kenya remains; so as we must plan for the future, a future that will not be dictated by the forthcoming elections," said Kenyatta.
The Kenyan leader who was sworn in for his second and final term in office on November 28 in 2017 expressed confidence that a healthy collaboration with the opposition will usher in a new era of unity and prosperity.
On his part, Odinga vowed to be at the frontline to restore healing in Kenya.
"We the leaders are summoned to take the front seat and heal the growing ethnic and sectarian strife in the country after every election cycle," Odinga said.
The 73-year-old doyen of Kenyan opposition politics lost the presidential contest to Kenyatta during the August 8 2017 polls that were later nullified by the apex court over gross malpractices.
Odinga who later boycotted the October 26 presidential polls citing uneven playing field had vowed not to recognize Kenyatta's presidency.
He announced fierce resistance to Kenyatta's rule that culminated in his mock swearing in as the "people's president" on Jan. 30 at a public park in Nairobi.
Odinga said Kenyans "can not remember why and where they disagreed in the first place".
"As we fight ostensibly to save ourselves from each other, the reality is that we need to save our children from ourselves. My brother (Kenyatta) and myself have, therefore, come together today to say this dissent stops here," Odinga said.
"We refuse to be the leaders under whose watch Kenyans lead into a failed nation. This is a call to self-reflection," the opposition leader said.
"The time has come for us to resolve our differences. Our only option is to come together and begin the process of healing," he added.
A joint statement signed by Kenyatta and Odinga identified key areas that will be at the center stage of their new mission to promote national healing.
The two leaders agreed to work with a joint team of experts to address endemic challenges like ethnic hostilities, corruption, negative politics, exclusion, insecurity and divisive electioneering.