Thika reacts to the unfortunate attack on Raila Odinga.
The incident at Kenyatta Avenue and Makongeni Thika where
some youth disrupted NASA leader Raila Odinga’s tour in the region has
generated mixed reactions, ranging from outrage at the youth’s actions to some
hailing the act as a form of revenge over what their counterparts in Kisumu did
to President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto.
It all started with an ugly outburst by some youth, suspected
to be Jubilee Party supporters started shouting down the ODM leader. The incident
triggered some confrontation between them and Raila’s security men, culminating
to stone throwing and police hurling teargas canisters to disperse the rowdy
youth who succeeded in cutting short the NASA leaders tour in Kiambu and Murang’a
counties.
“Raila should have been given an opportunity to sell his
agenda to the people of Thika. If Thika burns just because of such silly acts
of hooliganism, will Raila or Uhuru suffer with you? Whoever planned this did
something very wrong to Thika people,” said one resident.
He blamed the local leadership for the chaos reminding the
organisers of the skirmishes that the constituency was cosmopolitan and
constituted virtually all tribes of Kenya and people from supporting different
political alignments.
“This ‘gicagi’
mentality that Thika belongs to a certain community should be erased from our
minds. We totally condemn this nonsense. Thika needs peace,” he retorted.
A lady who did not want to be identified for security
reasons said that Thika had so many NASA supporters who too needed an
opportunity to be addressed by their leaders.
“As NASA supporters, we too deserve the right to be
respected and be let to assemble as so. We never interfered with Uhuru’s visit
when he came here. If one doesn’t want to listen to Raila, why bother coming to
his rally?” she asked.
“We know who organised these people and we will definitely
express our disappointment on the ballot. Mwambie
tarehe nane tutamwonyesha hasira zetu kutumia kura zetu. This is unacceptable!”
she added.
(Related story: One man seriously injured as Raila’s convoy is stoned in Thika.)
Another resident argued that it was wrong to respond
stupidity with the same. He pointed out that it was such small silly acts that
would culminate into ethnic hatred which may plunge this country into chaos
just as we witnessed after the 2007 general elections.
He commended the people of Kiambu and Ruiru who accorded the
opposition chief a warm reception during his recent visit saying that it was
such political tolerance that would heal this country from negative ethnicity.
“Even if our president was heckled in Kisumu the other day,
we should have shown our political maturity by letting Raila sell himself
peacefully and go. Kwani, does that
change your vote?” he asked.
“We need to remember that we face the same challenges as
Kenyan regardless of who we personally support. Let us therefore settle our
differences through the ballot. Furthermore, we will be buying unga at the same
price whether Uhuru or Raila wins,” said one young lady.
However, there were those few residents who bore that school
of thought that the people of Thika needed to return fire with fire.
“People got angry yesterday with what they witnessed in
Kisumu against UhuRuto. We have to retaliate and we have no apologies!” said
one angry youth.
Another youth reckoned that they did whatever they did to show Raila and
his people that they held no monopoly of violence.
“Thika is a Jubilee zone and if they think that they hold
the monopoly of violence, we are going to show them dust,” he said.
No comments: