Uasin Gishu County Commissioner Stephen Kihara has dismissed claims that he has been holding meetings with chiefs, forcing them to campaign for Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition.
The claims were made last week by Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago, who also alleged that the County Commissioner was holding night meetings with a section of communities in the county.
But in a media briefing, Kihara said the chiefs have a core mandate of engaging locals, insisting that they are now focused on preaching peace and creating an environment where all citizens will be in a position to exercise their democratic rights.
“Those raising issues that we’re doing meetings with chiefs, that is one of their core mandates. I cannot have a forum without involving chiefs. We’re driving the community to have free will. They are not politicians. Chiefs are citizens and we’re using them to bring the people together,” said the County Commissioner.
On claims that he was holding night meetings, Kihara said, “I challenge him to mention the meetings.”
Mandago, addressing the press after issuing his last state of the county address last week, asked the County Commissioner to keep off political matters, and focus on his security mandate.
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But according to the County Security Committee chairman, claims of helping campaign for Azimio in Uasin Gishu are lame excuses being made by the politicians.
He insisted that chiefs will continue having meetings with the locals and that everybody is free to attend the meetings.
“We have agreed that every chief should have two meetings in his area of jurisdiction per week in the remaining days. We want to bring on board everybody who wishes to participate,” Kihara said.
The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), in its latest report, listed Uasin Gishu among the high-risk counties for election-related violence.
In a meeting with Journalists in Eldoret town, NCIC said land issues in Ainabkoi and Burnt Forest, as well as political affiliations in Langas and Huruma, are some of the issues that contributed to the county being listed among the high risk, alongside Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru and Kericho.
