President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday, February 22, warned Marsabit Governor, Mohamud Mohamed, and other area leaders to resolve the perennial communal conflict that has rocked the county, lest the government steps in.
Speaking at State House where he hosted politicians from Marsabit, Isiolo, and Tana River counties, the Commander in Chief (CinC) gave the leaders from the region two weeks to come up with a lasting solution to the conflicts.
Uhuru cautioned the leaders that failure to bring forward a concrete strategy will push him to deploy security agencies with strict instructions to forcefully end insecurity in Marsabit county.
“My dear friends from Marsabit you should sit down together and decide that you want peace amongst yourselves. You must agree amongst yourselves and bring me the solution because you have it. I will call you after two weeks, if you do not bring an agreed solution then you will have decided that the Government intervenes and you know what that means,” the President said.
The Head of State emphasized the need for Marsabit leaders to change their approach and work together to promote unity rather than fuelling conflicts among residents.
“Peace is an important thing that brings a lot of benefits. Make peace so that you can benefit fully by being at the center of government. Instead of focusing on war and petty tribal clashes, focus on how you will uplift the lives of the people of Marsabit County,” President Kenyatta urged.
He asked the leaders to borrow a leaf from his decision to establish a working relationship with the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader, Raila Odinga, with a view of building a strong, stable and peaceful country.
“The most important thing is for the 50 million Kenyans to live together peacefully. Let us work for peace as this is what will enable us to achieve our development agenda. Please learn from me, I have worked with most of you.
"You can all see, despite having had political differences with the ODM leader Raila Odinga, we decided to discard our differences and join hands to build a peaceful country,” he noted.
President Kenyatta once again advised leaders across the country not to allow political competition to undermine peace and security urging them to work together towards uniting all Kenyans.
He also addressed issues raised by the delegation of leaders, among them development and ensuring that residents in their respective areas get access to government services.
Uhuru underlined the construction of Lamu Port and the road infrastructure in the region will benefit the counties of Tana River, Isiolo, Marsabit, and Mandera.
