By NATION AFRICA

More by this Author

Former Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has wished the people of Kenya a peaceful election, but reminded the political elite that post-election peace and stability depends on how they conduct themselves during the electioneering period.

The former President particularly singled out President Uhuru Kenyatta and National Super Alliance (Nasa) presidential candidate Raila Odinga as the ones who will make the country peaceful and stable.

“As I wish the country a peaceful, free and fair election, I want to remind the Kenyan political elite that it is them who make it happen,” he said on Tuesday during the memorial service of former powerful Cabinet Minister Nicholas Biwott at the AIC Milimani Church in Nairobi.

STABILITY

Mr Kikwete is among those who brokered the 2008 National Peace Accord that ended the post-election violence and established the Grand Coalition Government between President Mwai Kibaki and Mr Odinga.

Mr Kikwete urged President Kenyatta and Mr Odinga to ensure that peace and stability is maintained before and after the August elections.

“If Mr Odinga was here, I would have told him that together with President Kenyatta the peace and stability of this country is in their hands,” he said.

The Nasa leader attended the service of the man they once served in the Cabinet with, after the merger between Kanu and his National Development Party (NDP), in 2001.

PERSONAL FRIEND

However, Mr Odinga left when the mass was halfway through and a few minutes after the arrival of the former Tanzanian leader.

Mr Kikwete condoled the Biwott family and the Kenyan public noting that he had lost a personal friend and that East African Community was all the poorer as it had lost a person who was committed to regional integration.

The two met in the 1980s when both served as Ministers of Energy in their respective countries.

They would meet again in the 1990s when Mr Kikwete was the Foreign Minister and Mr Biwott was in charge of the Ministry of East African Community where they, together with Uganda’s Eriya Kategeya, negotiated the Agreement on Tripartite Cooperation which was later upgraded to the EAC treaty in 1999.

DEADLOCK

He revealed that Mr Biwott had been instrumental in the establishment of the East African road network out of realisation that movement within the region could be hampered by poor road network.

He recounted the intrigues that went on before the treaty was signed, revealing that it was Mr Biwott’s wisdom that broke the deadlock.

“Mr Biwott’s arrival at the Ministry of EAC came at a critical stage of the integration, especially when we were negotiating the Protocol on the Customs Union. We worked overtime and it is his wisdom that ended the deadlock,” said Mr Kikwete.