Work boycott call scheme to sabotage economy, Maasai elders say

Maasai elders from Kajiado have asked the Kenyans to disregard calls by opposition leader Raila Odinga over the weekend urging them to stay away from work.

Led by David Sankori, the Kajiado representative of National Council of Elders, they said that the call by Mr Odinga, who contested the presidency against President Uhuru Kenyatta, is a "scheme to sabotage the economy of our nation".

"The people of Kajiado have gone back to their duties and businesses are back to normal. We are urging the rest of Kenyans to go back to work as it is them who will lose out when they are sacked," Mr Sankori said.

The former Kajiado Central MP urged Mr Odinga to respect the will of the people.

"Kenyans made a decision on the ballot box and elected their leaders in an election everyone agrees was free and fair. Mr Odinga, who calls himself a reformer and a democrat, needs to respect that.

“If he has any grievances, he should take them to court for that is what the Constitution he helped midwife states. Anything outside of that is pure incitement and sabotage," added Mr Sankori.

MEDIA FREEDOM

He also touched on the issue of boycotting Nation Media Group products saying that Mr Odingas utterances go against media freedom.

"It was very irresponsible of Raila and Orengo to say the things they said in Kibera in the presence of Nation journalists. Ironically it is only NTV that was broadcasting the event live," said Mr Sankori.

"We respect Raila but he needs to be more circumspect in his utterances. He has huge following and thus needs to guide them effectively," he added.

Kajiado County Commissioner Harsama Kello also expressed displeasure with Mr Odinga for his utterances on Sunday.

"We have not forgotten that he came to Kajiado and [made] very inflammatory remarks on land ownership," Mr Kello told Nation by phone.

"We had to work round the clock to ensure that there was peace in our county and that people felt secure to go about their business. Now he is telling people not to go work. We condemn that and ask people to ignore him."

Meanwhile a spot check by Nation in Kajiado and Kitengela on Monday revealed that things were back to normal and that people went about their businesses as usual.

Patrick Mbula who works with Nation circulation department in Kitengela said that their sales on Monday were not affected by Mr Odinga's boycott call.

"There was no change in our sales today. Nation is a big brand; it can't be affected by political pronouncements," said Mr Mbula.