Deputy President William Ruto on Thursday received a hostile reception in Elgeyo Marakwet County after a section of leaders staged a walkout from a meeting he was to address.
DP Ruto was in the area to preside over a meeting between residents of Marakwet, West Pokot and Baringocounties 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 Kipsang 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.
-kenyans.co.ke
