Songhor dispute, a familiar pattern of pre-election ethnic violence along Nandi-Kisumu Border

A Citizens’ Constitution Implementation Platform, Jukwaa La Katiba is blaming politicians for ethnic violence happening in Songhor area along the Nandi-Kisumu border.

Led by Morris Odhiambo, the Civil Society on Sunday asked the government to; ‘Stop the killing of innocent people by powerful interests.’

Odhiambo condemned violence that continues around Songhor area that has already claimed more than 10 lives this year.

“The violence follows a familiar pattern of pre-election violence. It is the kind of violence that led to the death of more than 200 Kenyans in Tana River in 2012,” Odhiambo read a statement, adding that the governments’ reaction has been rather slow.

Even though, the civil society held that loss of life must never be condoned as much as the government sent more police to the area.

Jukwaa la Katiba believes that responsible authorities have conveniently blamed cattle rustling for the violence, an attempt they say is to cover the real motives behind the violence.

“Our sources on the ground indicate that the more important issues are political and informed by the need by powerful interests to protect their land holdings. Nkaissery’s shoot-to-kill orders are therefore a deliberate attempt to divert attention from the real issues. We wonder why the National Land Commission is not taking action on the land issues in this case,” reads a statement by the lobby group.

In another front, The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) were reported of not taking its work seriously.

“As usual, completely ineffective, it is time for Kenyans to rethink this Commission which is gobbling public resources for doing no work,” Odhiambo pointed out. He was accompanied by John Wamagata, National Coordinator, and Operation Ondoa Panya.