United by a shared belief in the glory of God and the power of prayer

The diplomatic image of our country was once again boosted, when two of the most senior Kenyan politicians, President Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, were invited to the 68th Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC.

Held every year since 1953, this event has become an international gathering. It draws representatives from over 150 nations, with only a select few international leaders being invited to attend. The fact that our friends and allies in the US extended this invitation to our leadership is indeed an honour.

Uhuru has been our most international leader to date, crossing the 100-trip mark at the end of last year. This is more than triple that of his predecessor Mwai Kibaki, who made a total of 33 trips over the course of his two terms in office. What has been unique about our country’s foreign relations under President Uhuru, has been his ability to maintain high-quality from these trips, and most importantly to turn them into concrete, tangible gains for his people.

The invitation to the Prayer Breakfast should be viewed as a serious endorsement on the part of our friends in the US of recent domestic developments.  This has been seen in the past with foreign leaders, religious and political, all being invited to attend as a means of showing support for their work. Such support was shown for example in 2014, when the Patriarch of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk was invited to the breakfast as a guest of honour, due to his work overcoming ethnic-based unrest in Ukraine.

In a similar vein, the invitation extended to both Uhuru and Raila should be understood in the context of the Building Bridges Initiative. It is unique that a head of state be invited to attend the breakfast alongside members of the opposition. In this case, inviting both sides of the ‘handshake’ was necessary, as a way for our allies to throw their weight behind the unity that both of them have been working fervently to foster. 

The Building Bridges Initiative seeks to put political differences aside and enable the government to work with the opposition for the betterment of the lives of our brothers and sisters. This message of unity is exactly what the breakfast represents. Former President Obama summarised this well when he stated that the breakfast’s aim was, “to make sure our politics and our public discourse reflect that same spirit of love and sound mind”.

This is not the first time Uhuru is attending the breakfast, having attended the 50th annual Prayer Breakfast in 2003, then as an opposition leader. He was then invited to attend under similar circumstances, having fought hard to foster unity in our country after the political divisions of the 2002 elections. Interestingly enough, this was the year that Kenya founded its own Kenya National Prayer Event, which now takes place on the last Thursday of May before Madaraka Day.

Our National Prayer Event, similar to that which takes place in the US, also emphasises unity and brotherhood. Bringing together Kenyans from all walks of life, as well as leaders from across the continent, the event has become a central part of our national calendar. Also similar to the US Prayer Breakfast is the way in which it aims to reaffirm a sense of brotherhood amongst our people. In the words of the famous American abolitionist preacher Charles Finney, “Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying together. Never do they love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other’s heats in prayer”. 

The same can be said about Uhuru and Raila attending the National Prayer Breakfast. What better way could there be to strengthen international relationships with some of our most important allies than through breaking bread and praying together? What better way can there be to boost the profile of the historic Building Bridges Initiative than to reaffirm it in an international spotlight under the auspices of fellow Christians? And what better way to exhibit our leadership’s commitment to placing political differences aside than by, in the words of President Trump, “holding hands in prayer with leaders from across the country and all around the world who are all united by a shared belief in the glory of God and the power of prayer”?