Western Region Parliamentarians have removed Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala from the youth leadership position.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke on Sunday, October 18, Saboti MP Caleb Amisi, who was picked as Malala's replacement, disclosed that the delegates were all in full support of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).
As the head of Magharibi Youth Movement, Amisi is tasked with developing strategies for rejuvenating the regions socio-economic growth.
"We have taken western region. We are ready to deliver our people them from bondage. If anyone wants to talk to youths of western, it will be through Edwin Sifuna (ODM Secretary General), Godfrey Osotsi (Nominated MP), Mercy Cheben (Nominated Senator) and Amisi who is the leader. If you cross that line and burn, blame it on yourself," stated the lawmaker.
In a meeting that the leaders held on Saturday, October 17, the team resolved to promote unity of purpose, peaceful co-existence and empowerment of the community.
"The movement supports the handshake between the president (Uhuru Kenyatta) and the Hon Raila Amolo Odinga (former Prime Minister) for its promotion of lasting peace," read a statement from the youth movement.
The team also pledged to increase allocation of resources to counties as well as help realise the need for expansion of opportunities, job creation and lasting peace.
The delegates came from Western Kenya counties of Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Busia, Vihiga and Kakamega.
Amisi further noted that the region had been marginalized politically although it wielded a sizeable political power.
"We want to change the narrative so that this region will no longer be a center of political brokerage during elections. We must be part and parcel of the government of the day," he added.
The move comes a month after the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party kickstarted a process to have the senator demoted from his Senate Minority Leader position.
In September, Sifuna explained that the party was convinced that Malala was no longer serving the interests of the minority, yet ODM gave him the position and the mandate.
He also accused the lawmaker of having dalliances with Deputy President William Ruto among other leaders not in tandem with the agenda of the minority.
