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The Writing Is On The Wall! Leaders Warn Of Looming Bloodshed In Thika, Kiambu Politics.

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.
Despite the various efforts made by security organs to tame the political temperatures especially in Thika West Sub-County, community leaders are warning that the situation in the area and the larger Kiambu County is very volatile and could burst into bloodshed if those in authority fail to take necessary precaution.

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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