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Citizen Weekly

Sunday 26 April 2015

Kalenjin leaders support calls for dialogue and reconciliation

There are growing calls from top Kalenjin leaders to bury their hatchet and work as a united team for the interest of the community and all Kenyans regardless of the regions they come from.
A cross-section of the politicians interviewed in Kericho and Litein towns were of the opinion that the on-going political wranglings between Deputy President William Ruto and Bomet governor Isaac Ruto is not in the best interest of the Kalenjin people, particularly the populous Kipsigis subtribe, and the sooner the squabbling come to an end, the better for the unity of the community.
The leaders supported recent calls by  Isaiah Cheluget be called upon to initiate dialogue between the two warring camps with an aim of finding an amicable solution so that the people of South Rift could work together for the mutual interest and benefit of all and concentrate on peaceful development of the area.
Speaking in Kericho, the chairman of the Kericho branch of the Small Scale Tea Owners Association Joel  Chepkwony said what is going on inside the two counties of Kericho and Bomet was a big shame to the community.The call was made two weeks ago by veteran Kipsigis politician William Kettienya who said Cheluget has what it takes to be a neutral and non-partisan conciliator.
His vast and wealth of experience in public administration gives him the necessarily required credibility of holding such reconciliatory meeting, he said.
So far, the two Rutos have yet to respond to the call for dialogue, which Chepkwony said was timely and it is in the interest of the Kalenjin community in general and the Kpsigis subtribe in particular.
Kettienya reiterated the urgency of such a meeting and urged the two leaders to respond as soon as they could find the convenient time. “Both the Bomet governor Ruto and DP Ruto are our respected sons and their participation in the national and a devolved government is a blessing to the entire Kalenjin community and residents of the Rift Valley at large. Such peace initiative could ease out the existing tension in the South Rift,” he asserted.
Meanwhile, the tour of the South Rift region by the Baringo Senator Gideon Moi has become the source of great concern among the URP party supporters, particularly the political surrogates and sycophants of the DP Ruto.  Moi was in Bomet where he was among the thousands of people who gave a tearful send-off during the burial of the slain GSU corporal Bernard Tanui at Cheleget village. He was accompanied by the Kanu secretary general NicK Salat, Bomet senator Nick Lessan, several MCAs and Narok governor Samuel Kuntai.

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