SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY HON UHURU KENYATTA, C.G.H.

, PRESIDENT AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE DEFENCE FORCES OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA DURING THE 2013 NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST AT SAFARI PARK HOTEL, NAIROBI ON 20TH JUNE, 2013 Ladies and Gentlemen, I am indeed very delighted to join other Kenyans in praying for our country. Let me begin by thanking God for bringing us here this morning to pray together, at my first national prayer breakfast as President. It is said that prayer is to the soul what food is to the body. This is indeed true. On a personal level, I am convinced that there is nothing more valuable than praying to God, for prayer unites us with our Creator. This National Prayer Breakfast is unique as it is the first one in our Jubilee year. As we celebrate our Jubilee anniversary this year, let us profess that it will be our year of restoration, renewal and repentance in the spirit of the Biblical year of Jubilee. As Kenyans, let us also join hands to ensure that this year marks a new beginning for our people and country; a new beginning of peace and prosperity and a new beginning of hope and opportunity for all our people. Ladies and Gentlemen, As most of you will recall, last year during the campaigns, Kenyans, other political leaders and I congregated at Uhuru Park grounds to pray to God for peaceful elections. And He granted us that favour; a favour that indeed made our country proud. And so, today, as we gather to pray for our country, let us express our gratitude to God for the peaceful elections we held and for the smooth transition thereafter. Indeed, this is an opportune time for us to reflect on and thank God for the abundant blessings He has showered upon us as individuals and as a nation. As we come before the Almighty God in prayer, I call upon Kenyans to seek forgiveness and repent for our wrong doing. Let us also forgive one another and pray for reconciliation and healing in our country. I urge Kenyans to remember that we are all equal in the eyes of God, and we must forge ahead as one, united people. Let us, therefore, pray to God to help us work together to build a united, prosperous and God fearing nation which we can all be proud to call our home. I encourage us all to stand up against those vices and forces that divide us and focus more on issues that will unite us.

Ladies and Gentlemen, On this occasion, I appeal to Kenyans to pray for Gods guidance and intervention in addressing the critical challenges we are facing today. Firstly, our country is in great need of honest, selfless and visionary leadership. We must all remember that we are implementing the new Constitution, and especially the devolved system of government. We have not travelled this road before and we must seek Gods guidance in walking this uncharted terrain. I call upon Kenyans to pray for all leaders to embrace the spirit of constructive dialogue and a genuine commitment to selflessly seek solutions to the challenges involved in implementing our new constitutional order. I urge leaders not to politicize challenges facing the implementation of the new order and instead provide practical solutions that will help us succeed and improve the lives of our people. Secondly, I call upon Kenyans to pray for peace and security in our country. In recent times, we have been faced with security challenges which remain a matter of great concern to my Government. I would like to assure all Kenyans that we are determined to deal with any internal and external threats to our peace and security. However, as we endeavor to deal with these challenges, let us also remember the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 127 that except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. Thirdly, let us all pray to God for our daily bread, for the adequate sustenance of each and every one of us. There are many of our people who live below the poverty line and others who are unemployed and have no secure means of earning a livelihood. As Christians, we have a duty to these people. The Government has a duty too, and as Government we are indeed committed to transforming our country into a middle income economy where all our people can enjoy high standards of living. As we pursue this long term goal, I assure Kenyans that my Government is taking all possible measures to reduce the cost of living and ensure basic necessities are affordable to all Kenyans. I call upon all leaders at the national and county levels to focus on practical ways of improving the lives of our people and especially addressing the plight of the needy and vulnerable members of our country. Let us pray for and focus on helping the unemployed youth, those living in poverty and all vulnerable members of our society especially on issues of access to food and shelter, education and healthcare as well as farm inputs and affordable energy.

Finally, let us pray for Gods guidance in balancing the competing demands in our economy. I appeal to all Kenyans not to lose sight of the big picture in the course of championing individual and group interests. We must remember that our sectoral demands as counties, as interest groups, as trade unions and so on, have a direct bearing and impact on other sectors and on our country as a whole. Let us carefully assess the effects of our demands on other sectors of national endeavor and on the overall growth prospects of our economy. In the true Christian love, let us reflect on the wellbeing of one another; let us be one anothers keeper. As we seek to share the national cake, let us also give serious thought to new ideas of baking a larger cake at both the national and county levels. As I conclude, I wish to commend the organizers of this years National Prayer Breakfast for bringing together people from diverse religious affiliations in prayer. This is a good illustration of how we can set apart our diversity and move forward as a nation. It is my hope that it shall be replicated in all our other undertakings. I thank you and God bless you all.