The Writing Is On The Wall! Leaders Warn Of Looming Bloodshed In Thika, Kiambu Politics.
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| The chair Thika Peace Committee Aboo Nurein presents a certificate of attendance to one of the participants of the peace workshop. With him is the event organiser Susan Gitau (extreme left) and Nominated MCA Flozie Ngeru. |
This was revealed during a ceremony organised to graduate about
30 peace campaigners from the entire Kiambu County that was held at Africana
College of Professionals in Thika Town.
The peace campaigners, majority of whom were youth and some integrated
IDPs, had undergone a one week therapeutic communication workshop that equipped
them with skills necessary to facilitate constructive communication, become
more comfortable in sharing potentially difficult information, view life through
a lens built from the context of their experiences, maintain an acute awareness
of what is being said around them as well as any non-verbal cues that are crucial
in ensuring there is cohesion, tranquility and peace within they area they
lived in.
“I have told the DC (Tom Anjere) that there will be chaos
here in Kiambu if we do not arrest the situation before it erupts. Virtually every
politician has hired criminal gangs that they use in their campaigns and to
threaten their opponents. They are known by the authorities but nothing is
being done about it. It is very unfortunate that Kiambu is saturated with very stubborn
leaders who will dismiss the authorities with impunity,” said Mzee Aboo Nurein,
the chairman Thika West District Peace Committee.
Mzee Aboo reckoned that signs were so evident that violence
was looming in Thika and Kiambu County and action to curb this was inevitable.
“Politicians are sending goons to disrupt opponents’
meetings. Others are attacking the supporters of their opponents and tearing
off their campaign material with impunity. I hereby warning those police
officers who are being bribed by these leaders to subdue justice that we are
not going to take this lying down,” he said.
Aboo said that it was time the law took its cause and some
of these warmongers arraigned in court for incitement and violence. He warned
the police that he would personally take charge to see to it that disciplinary
action was taken against all those among them who failed to diligently perform
their duty.
He said that it was quite unfortunate that the brand of
politics that reigned supreme in this region was those of name calling and
outright threats, something he noted, was recipe for chaos or even bloodshed.
“Rarely do you see these leaders sell their policies in
public. Theirs is just dishing out money to the youth and feeding them with rhetoric.
Recently one of them was nearly beaten up by the youth for failing to give them
(sh.) 300 after his meeting,” he said.
He therefore called on the graduates to be peace ambassadors
and promised to walk with them in their pursuit for peace. He appealed to them
to report any incidences of political hooliganism to the police.
“When there is no peace no one
will be able to go about with their normal chores!” he warned.
Susan Gitau, the facilitator and
the organiser of this workshop, said that her passion for peace was driven by her
early childhood experiences, having not known real peace living in Kiandutu slums
then. She noted that the youth had become targets for politicians due to
desperation and lack of financial empowerment.
“The death of a teacher on the 6th
of November this year due to politically related chaos prompted us to
reschedule our programme and bring forward this workshop as we were worried
that any further delay may cause another death or someone else getting maimed
in the name of politics. I am here to ensure that the youth identify their
rights and duty to this nation. This is a strong message to our leaders that it
will no longer be business as usual. We are going to put to task all those of
you who advocate for violence in this area. Everyone must earn their right for
our votes through what policies and agenda they stood for and not how arrogant
and violent they could be,” said Susan.
She noted that those politicians associated
with violence had no agenda for the people and that was why they went out of
their way to disrupt other people’s meetings to deny them an opportunity to
sell their policies.
Susan, who is a certified chancellor
and a lecturer in Africa Nazarene University, reminded the youth that they were
the employers of these politicians adding that they needed to question the politicians
why they were still jobless even as they rode on their backs in their pursuit
for power year in year out.
“It is time we restored the
dignity of our youth. It is time the youth demanded their rightful space in the
society. We are demanding that they must guarantee our youth there will always be
structure, order and discipline in the running of affairs,” she said.
She noted that her efforts to
bring the politicians on board was ignored as majority of them were never
interested in uplifting the welfare of the youth and the general public. Theirs,
she said, was to assume power for their own personal benefit.
She said that the programme will
be extended to all parts of the country, bringing on board religious and
community leaders, youth groups and other organisations to ensure that the
message reached virtually everyone within the society.
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