Nairobi News

Elders and the church leaders from the Abagusii community have called on both Kisii Governor Simba Arati and South Mugirango MP Silvanus Osoro to immediately end the ongoing dispute.

This follows a multisectoral consultative meeting of Kisii elders held in Nairobi under the leadership of Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu.

The meeting was attended by the elders and some church leaders, as well as Mr Osoro, who was invited along with Governor Arati, who snubbed the meeting.

The multisectoral consultative meeting chairman Dr Omenge Mainda has however expressed his confidence that Governor Arati will take part in the meetings going forward.

“We have agreed as elders to engage him so that he can be in our next meeting. He was invited, and there is nothing to worry about it. We have mandated some elders to get in touch with him,” Dr Omange said.

Early this week, Governor Arati said that he will not attend such mediation meetings until action is taken against the people who disrupted his meeting in South Mugirango.

Governor Arati said that the education CS had not embraced him as the duly elected governor.

“I defeated him and President William Ruto appointed him as Cabinet Secretary,” Mr Arati said.

He further alleged that Mr Machogu was aware of those who had planned the chaos in which gunmen shot at a crowd he was addressing and injured locals.

“Let the law take its course. Even in Somalia where there is no government, shots are not fired haphazardly except by Alshabaab.”

Meanwhile, the multisectoral consultative team has said that the engagement is expected to involve all the elected leaders in the county going forward.

“We call for the immediate ceasefire of the political altercations by all concerned parties. The advisory council to discuss all other matters affecting the community,” Dr Omenge said.

The elders have also asked the security agencies to carry out a thorough investigation and take action against all the culprits of the recent cases of insecurity in the region regardless of their position in the society.

Former Kisii Senator Professor Sam Ongeri reiterated that the purpose of the meeting is to restore peace and harmony in Kisii, a move that he said was prompted by the calls from the residents.

“Peace is a priceless commodity, and it takes two to takes two to tango. We are appealing to Governor Arati, and Osoro to cease any altercation in order to give us an opportunity to deal into pros and cons of issues that may be affecting the stability of the region,” Prof Ongeri said.

Prof Ongeri said that the elders have no intention of blaming anyone for the recent chaos that was witnessed in the region, but their main interest is to restore peace.

Former Bobasi MP Stephen Manoti said that the ongoing conflict between Governor Arati and MP Osoro is not doing any good to the community economically.

“Without peace, there is nothing that will come out and that is why we have come together as elders to unite the two worrying sides, and from our meeting we anticipate that they will agree and work together,” Mr Manoti said.