DP Ruto was in the area to preside
over a meeting between residents of Marakwet, West Pokot and Baringo counties
in an attempt to tone down deadly attacks between the communities.
Trouble began when the Marakwets
refused to hold a meeting with their counterparts and even walked out of the
meeting Ruto was to address. “We cannot have a meeting with the Pokot when one
of our own is still in the mortuary.
Our culture does not even allow us
to meet with the Pokot,” declared one of the leaders. It took the intervention
of Marakwet West MP William Kisang who urged leaders from the warring regions
to engage each other in the peace talks.
Normalcy, however, resumed with
Ruto assuring the locals that the government was committed to ending the
frequent attacks orchestrated under the guise of cattle rustling. The DP, who
was accompanied by Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery and Inspector
General of Police Joseph Boinnet, added that additional police officers and
armoured vehicles had been deployed in the region.
“As we leave this place now, we
have given you 80 Kenya Police reservists; 40 will be based in Marakwet and 40
in the Pokot side. I want to assure you that we are going out of our way to
find out solutions that will give us lasting peace,” he stated.
At the same time, the DP ordered
for recruitment of more reservists who would help in maintaining peace in the
area, which has borne the brunt of intercommunal conflict.
Credit:Kenyans.co.ke
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