West Pokot County Governor Simon Kachapin has called on the national government to complete the Chesegon Technical Training Institute to offer technical skills to youth in the Kerio Valley.
Kachapin said the institute was strategically located in Chesegon since it is along the Elgeyo Marakwet-West Pokot boundary so that it can admit youth from both counties to allow integration and foster peace.
The governor, who was speaking during a peace meeting after a mass conducted by the Catholic Church, said the TTI, which was started during his term in office, had stalled to date.
Addressing the same meeting, his Elgeyo Marakwet counterpart, Wisley Rotich, said the county governments were willing to offer the youth training so that they could drop the guns and have alternative methods to earn a living.
Governor Rotich said the youth will earn more from their skills than what they earn from cattle rustling, which he said was a very risky business not only to them but to the residents of Kerio Valley.
He called on youth to register in large numbers for scholarships to various TVETs in the country for admission in January next year, saying they were open to all youth irrespective of their level of education.
The two governors appealed to residents to embrace peace and called for the opening of all schools which had been closed due to insecurity and hailed the opening of Chesegon Market, which he said promoted trade and peace in the area.
The governors called on the church to make the peace prayers an annual event just like the church was doing in Kapsait, which is conducted every January 1.
Turkana Catholic Bishop John Mbinda called for peace for the area to develop, saying where there’s peace there is development, and called on politicians to be at the forefront in promoting peace.
Eldoret Catholic Bishop Dominic Kimengich said the church will do all it can to promote peace in the region, saying residents of the North Rift counties should embrace one another as they were one big family.
The cleric hailed the current peace in the area, saying it showed that it was possible for the locals to keep peace.
The Elgeyo Marakwet County Chief Officer in Charge of Peace, Lawrence Mutwol, called on all involved in the peace activities not to relent, especially during the dry months of January to March, when attacks heighten as livestock farmers seek pasture for their animals.
The function was attended by Christians from Turkana, West Pokot, Baringo, and Elgeyo Marakwet counties. Bishop Henry Odonya of the Catholic Diocese of Kitale was also in attendance.
By Alice Wanjiru
