After ODM’s apology to President, Obado shouldn’t have bothered elders

The decision by the Migori Council of Elders to march to State House and seek forgiveness was shameful. In fact, the elders should apologise to the Luo Council of Elders for looking like beggars at Uhuru Park.

Just imagine elderly men with greying beards licking ice cream in the park and looking as though they have gone hungry for weeks in the name of wanting to ask for forgiveness from the President.

It is true that for many years Luo Nyanza has been left out in terms of development, but going to Nairobi was a waste of time. They ought to have done that through their elected leaders.

I agree with Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo who said the President should not claim that he brought development to the region by distributing nets.

Migori residents have been living with malaria, and on average visit hospitals twice a year for malaria treatment, but that has not sent them to the grave.

No one dies of hunger in Luo Nyanza. The killer brew has not claimed lives in the region, and malaria is not the number one killer. Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o had already apologised on behalf of ODM, and that was more than enough.

Some elders told the President to okoa wajaluo (save the Luos). This to me was an insult. Luos are people of nyadhi (honour) and the apology tainted the entire community. May God forgive Obado.

What Mr Kenyatta should do is to launch a serious project in the region to create employment. He should be thinking of setting up a fish factory, for example.

In fact, the President ought to apologise for bringing only mosquito nets. When will multi-million-shilling roads be built? None has been constructed since he took the oath of office.

LENIN WERE, Kisumu
Blame ministry
As I watched the heckling scenes in the news, my first thought was that the people of Migori County really needed to apologise to President Kenyatta. However, after digesting the circumstances, I submit that the fault lies squarely with Cabinet Secretary for Interior under whom the National Intelligence Service operates.

The visit was not an impromptu one, and the intelligence officers based in that county and those who were deployed two or three weeks in advance of the presidential visit should be held responsible for allowing this to happen, yet taxpayers had paid for their keep.

If the NIS could fail to protect the President from such heckling, then how safe is the common citizen? Are intelligence reports ignored or simply dismissed? Can the NIS justify its huge budget allocation?

But if the President was made aware of it and he chose to put himself and his office through it, then no apologies!
GEORGE MUNGAI, Nairobi