County Commissioner calls for peace promotion in Mt Elgon
by Titus Oteba
Leaders and youths in Mt Elgon Constituency have been warned against perpetuating violence before, during and after the General Election.
Bungoma County Commissioner Samuel Kimiti said the region was prone to eruption of election related violence and this time round security agencies are on high alert to avert such incidents.
Speaking yesterday at Chesikaki ward in Cheptais sub-county during the launch of Covid-19 vaccination drive, Kimiti pointed out that the security agencies will not spare any leader using youths to cause violence for their selfish interests.
“We will arrest both the funder and the perpetrator of violence, culprits will rot in jail, we need a peaceful county that will guarantee residents to carry out with their businesses and other activities without any worry,” he said.
Militia groups
In the past Mt Elgon region has been in the news for all the wrong reasons with the existence of groups such as Sabaot Land Defence Force whose ring leader Wycliffe Matwakei was killed by the military in 2008 in an operation dubbed ‘Okoa Maisha’.
“Let peace be paramount in this region, let all leaders preach peace, any element of violence will be dealt with accordingly, let youths stop being hired by political leaders to cause violence or else they will face the full force of the law,” said Kimiti.
Bungoma County has taken Covid-19 vaccination exercise to the villages to ensure that majority of residents’ access to the jabs as one way of shielding them against getting Covid-19. Kimiti says those who will not have received Covid-19 jabs will be barred from accessing public office services adding that every Kenyan should receive the jabs so that she/he protects the life of other people.
