Elders from the Kalenjin Community in UasinGishu will soon give the political direction the community will take in 2022.
The Myot Council of Elders’ Chairman, Major (Rtd) Joh Seii said the unity of the community was paramount and a decision on how the community in UasinGishu will move politically in future will come from the elders.
UasinGishu is a cosmopolitan county, Kalenjin community being the majority, the political decisions they takes will have a direct impact on other communities residing in the county.
“If the political decision the Kalenjin community takes will be good, we will all be happy, if it will be bad, it will
adversely affect everybody,” said Seii during Madaraka day celebrations at 64 stadium on Saturday.
He however, said as Myot council of elders, they will ensure the political direction the community will take will create peace and harmony within the community as well as with other communities residing in the county.
“We don’t want groupings where a few individuals meet and purportedly declare an individual the spokesman of the Kalenjin community or decides that a certain politician leads the community to a political party,” he said.
A section of Keiyo Council of Elders recently approved a decision by businessman cum politician, Zedekiah Kiprop Bundotich (popularly known as Buzeki) to ditch Jubilee party for Chama Cha Mashinani CCM party and also installed him as their community’s spokesman to replace the last Keiyo spokesman, the late Nicholas KipyatorBiwott who died in July 2017.
He said such political tactics will only serve to cause disunity in the community, “The decision by the few individuals to crown a certain politician the spokesperson of the community was not a decision of the whole community.Those supporting the move by the said politician to another party do not have the support of the whole community,” declared Major Seii who is also a member of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
The sentiments were also echoed by Uasin Gishu Deputy Governor, Daniel Chemno who dismissed Buzeki’s move to CCM and his purported instalment as a Keiyo spokesman, saying Buzeki sensed he will be defeated if he runs for the Governors’ seat in Uasin Gishu in 2022.
“The people of Uasin Gishu are firmly in Jubilee and should not accept to be misled to disembark from an SGR running on two engines to a scrap without an engine nor tyres,” said the DG.
Chemno cautioned the residents not to fall in to the trap of politicians who intend to divide them along clan lines, a strategy overtaken by time.
Buzeki vied for the governors’ seat as an independent candidate during the last election after losing to Governor Jackson Mandago in the Jubilee nominations. He blamed his loss on Deputy President, William Rutto whom he claimed interfered with the nomination process. He however, also lost in the main election to Mandago.
By Kiptanui Cherono
