Three North Rift leaders on the spot over election remarks
What you need to know:
- Mr Mandago has accused some “powerful individuals within the Jubilee party” of supporting and funding campaigns of independent candidates.
- Two Uasin Gishu County MCAs have called on the area security agents to launch investigations into the remarks.
- Leaders have warned that the utterances made by Mr Mandago, Mr Sudi and Mr Keter, have the potential of fuelling violence.
Three North Rift leaders are on the spot for remarks directed at one community living in Uasin Gishu for allegedly supporting a rival of Governor Jackson Mandago in the coming elections.
Mr Mandago and MPs Oscar Sudi (Kapseret) and Alfred Keter (Nandi Hills) are reported to have threatened to stop campaigning for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto if the community continued to support his fierce rival Bundotich Kiprotich Zedekiah (Buzeki), an independent candidate.
They made the remarks in Eldoret Town last week Friday after Mr Mandago was cleared by IEBC to run for re-election in August.
Mr Mandago has accused some “powerful individuals within the Jubilee party” of supporting and funding campaigns of independent candidates contesting against them.
Governor Mandago has maintained that the party’s top leadership should draw a clear line between supporting them and entertaining independent candidates.
RALLY SUPPORTERS
“We will rally our supporters to cast their vote for other presidential candidates if the party relationship with independents does not end. We will ask our supporters to vote for us and make individual decisions on other seats. It is not a must for us to be in government,” said Mr Mandago.
The leaders’ remarks have been condemned and termed discriminatory and divisive in the cosmopolitan region which has been listed as one of the likely violence hots spots.
Two Uasin Gishu County MCAs have called on the area security agents to launch investigations into the remarks by the leaders which they said amounted to incitement.
Mr Peter Chomba (Huruma Ward) and Mr Francis Muiya (Langas) called on the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to look into the matter.
The MCAs alleged that the Jubilee Party candidates made inciting remarks last Friday during a campaign rally in Eldoret Town after being given the nod to seek re-election.
MAINTAIN PEACE
The two Jubilee MCAs cautioned that failure to take action against the leaders could likely spark violence ahead of the August 8 elections.
Kanu leaders and the business community in Uasin Gishu also called on leaders in the region to desist from making utterances likely to interfere with peace.
Led by Rift Valley Kanu coordinator Jonathan Bii, the leaders warned that the utterances made by Mr Mandago, Mr Sudi and Mr Keter, have the potential of fuelling violence ahead of the August 8 polls.
Mr Bii said that Uasin Gishu is cosmopolitan and leaders should not propagate hatred among voters in the county.
“As politicians we need to seek for votes in a humble way. [You] should not force all communities in this county to vote for you,” said Mr Bii who is vying for MP in Soy Constituency.
