North Rift MPs blame county government officials after President Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto skip peace rally

By OSINDE OBARE

KENYA: Members of Parliament (MPs) from Turkana and West Pokot counties have accused county government officials of sabotaging a peace rally at Turkwel skipped by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto.

The MPs blamed the officials from the two counties of causing the confusion that led to cancellation of the tour by Uhuru and Ruto.

Led by Kacheliba MP Mr Mark Lomunokol, the furious MPs said Uhuru and Ruto had confirmed to grace the peace rally only to change their mind at the last minute.

“We are aware that some leaders from West Pokot and Turkana counties complained to the President that they had been sidelined in the preparations prompting Uhuru and Ruto to skip the meeting,” said Lomunokol.

He termed it as cheap politics by leaders from the two counties to sabotage the important function targeting to bring a solution to the elusive peace in the region.

“There was no reason why the president and his deputy cancelled the tour. We are disappointed that some of our leaders influenced the cancellation,” he lamented.

The MPs said the main reason of inviting the president and deputy was to strengthen their peace initiatives touted by the MPs from the two communities to help end cattle rustling and border conflicts.

“Our target was to have the president address the two communities and strengthen our course and we were dismayed when the two skipped this major event,” he added.

Turkana South MP Mr James Lomenen said presence of the president and his deputy was crucial arguing that the region is losing millions of shillings to insecurity along the border of the two communities.

“We want the national government to assure investors that there is peace and the communities welcomed investment,” said Lomemen.

The 13 MPs however vowed that despite the sabotage, they will continue with the peace agenda to bring sanity in the region for the betterment of the communities.

“We have united with a common agenda. We are not going to be dragged backward by selfish individuals. We want to make a difference,” he said.

Lomunokol asked leaders in the two counties to stop politicising peace initiated by the MPs to promote co-existence.