A group of Luo elders has condemned the presence of Luo Council of Elders chairman Mzee Nyandiko Ongadi at Saturday's Jubilee thanksgiving rally in Nakuru's Afraha Stadium.
The group which swears its allegiance to Mzee Willis Otondi on Tuesday said that Ongadi had betrayed the community by attending the rally and that he was not acting on behalf of the Luo nation.
“We want to make it clear to any elder or leader who attended he Jubilee prayer rally that he is a rebel and therefore should not be taken as representing us. They have no mandate to speak on behalf of the Luo.” he stated.
Ongadi, who was accompanied by 13 other elders to the rally, on his part said they attended the prayer meeting as agents of peace and unity and not as political tools.
Speaking at the rally, he urged Kenyans to unite and shun tribal divisions.
The Luo Council has for a long time been afflicted by leadership wrangles that have seen it divided into factions with Otondi being recognised as the real Ker (Luo community elder) who enjoys the backing of influential political leaders including Opposition Chief Raila Odinga.
Ongadi on the other hand was last year installed by another faction of elders in the council as the successor to the late Riaga Omollo Ogallo, with the group arguing that political leaders were interfering in the council’s functions.
Odinga had earlier likened the celebration of the termination of case against Deputy president William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang at the International Criminal Court to a dance on the Post Election Victims' graves.
The ICC ruled that Ruto and Sang had no case to answer in charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the 2007/2008 Post Election Violence, in which more than 1200 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Mzee Nyandiko Ongadi at the Afraha Stadium, Nakuru
The group of elders led by Otondi are now planning a meeting to discuss the council’s status.
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