Diplomats, clerics, trade union leaders and the business fraternity are setting the stage for national dialogue.
If all goes according to plan, by February next year, national dialogue scheduled to take six months will commence.
A national steering committee is already gearing up to pick members across the many stakeholders in January 2018.
On Wednesday, the key players in planning of the national dialogue said political players from rivaling parties must be on board for the talks to be fruitful.
The Kenya Private Sector Alliance Foundation (KEPSAF) chairman Lee Karuri and Bishop Alfred Rotich of the Catholic Military Ordinariate in a joint statement according to Daily Nation said: “As Kenyans of goodwill seeking the best for our country, we call on everyone with a stake in its future, and especially on Kenya’s political leaders, to support and engage with the national conversation.”
They two said that the talks should by and large, border on how to realize the Vision 2030 blueprint.
“The issues will be presented by various sectors and compiled for discussion by the multi-sectoral forum.”
The statement further stated that with a lengthy campaigning season, tribal rifts were stretched further and efforts should be made by those within the political class to heal the rifts.
“The 2017 election once again exacerbated deep-seated divisions in Kenya. Representatives of business and religious communities, with the support of likeminded diplomats, propose that Kenya engages in a national conversation to ensure these issues don’t keep coming up every election year.”
But even as the plan to set the table for national dialogue soars up, it is not clear if President Uhuru Kenyatta will engage his nemesis Raila Odinga in political talks.
Uhuru recently said he is aware of the political card NASA is pushing and he will not fall for it.
However, he has extended an invitation to Raila for talks on liberating the country economically.
Raila’s political adviser Salim Lone in a statement said Uhuru must dialogue with Raila.
He said his hardline stance is endangering the future of the country.
“Uhuru’s tactics imperil it. Immediate dialogue is imperative…President Uhuru Kenyatta must act as President Kibaki did, by taking political steps that would give hope for a resolution to the alarming situation that prevails,” he said in the statement.
Lone said national dialogue must encompass issues by presented by both players in Kenya’s political circles.
“A serious dialogue to be initiated between President Kenyatta and NASA leaders on the basis of equality.
The dialogue should include all key issues that each side wants, which means electoral justice must be on the agenda.”