President Uhuru Kenyatta has officially invited Opposition leaders Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Musalia Mudavadi to the State of the Nation address in Parliament on Thursday.
It has also been revealed that the President personally made surprise telephone calls to Mudavadi and Kalonzo and asked them to assist in the launch of Hunduma Namba which they honoured and attend the parliament date. It is not known if they will be present in parliament.
While in Machakos,Uhuru praised Raila,Mudavadi and Kalonzo for unifying Kenyans and fighting tribalism. Suprisingly,the president did not mention or even apologize to Kakamega residents that his deputy William Ruto was to skip the launch.
Insiders say,Uhuru is bitter that Ruto can attend six functions within a day all in the name of Tanga tanga but fail a Jubilee landmark project. Others say,the procurement of the equipments being used was single sourced and did not land in the hands of one of Ruto allies as expected.
This will be Uhuru’s second State of the Nation Address since being sworn in for his second term as President.
During last year’s address, the President’s key message was unity at the back of a tough and long electioneering period.
On Thursday, he is expected to dwell much on the war on corruption and implementation of the Big 4 Agenda.
Already, civil society organisations and religious groups have piled pressure on the President not to relent in his war on corruption.
The groups urged him to use the State of the Nation address to remind the corrupt that there will be no let-up in the fight.
They also want the President to enumerate measures that will ensure the fight is sustained and suspects convicted.
The address comes amid wrangles in Jubilee Party, with one of the factions accusing investigative agencies of being used in a proxy war to derail Deputy President William Ruto’s bid to succeed Uhuru.
On Tuesday, the Head of State sent Raila, Kalonzo and Mudavadi to launch Huduma Namba in various areas.
Raila was in Likoni, Mudavadi in Kajiado while Kalonzo was in Murang’a where he was accompanied by Ford Kenya party leader Moses Wetang’ula.