Uhuru warns Nasa against incitement in Kajiado rallies

President Uhuru Kenyatta addresses a rally at Maili 46 in Kajiado County on July 5, 2017. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Kenyatta spoke in Kajiado County where he took his re-election campaign, telling residents to dismiss opposition leaders.
  • He said Jubilee had solutions to most of the problems facing the Maasai community.
  • Among the development projects planned are building of the Kajiado- Magadi road, more schools in the region and making secondary education free, and building technical training institutions.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday told the Opposition that the only way to serve Kenyans and unite them was through development and shunning tribalism and not inciting negative ethnicity.

Mr Kenyatta spoke in Kajiado County where he took his re-election campaign, telling residents to dismiss opposition leaders.

He singled out Nasa presidential flagbearer Raila Odinga who recently made what Mr Kenyatta said were inciting remarks meant to create animosity and hatred among communities living in the county.

“It is this stance of war mongering that we must guard against. It is this rhetoric that led to the 2007 violence. Do not allow that madness to take root,” the President said at Maili 46 where the opposition leader made controversial remarks on land.

POVERTY

Speaking at different stopovers he said one cannot solve problems like poverty and under-development by making tribal remarks and issuing threats.

The President said the Maasai, who are mainly pastoralists, had been grazing their cattle as far as Thika, Tanzania and the Coast due to drought.

“If your herders are told to go back to their homes, what will you do?” he asked.

He said Jubilee had solutions to most of the problems facing the community.

“On the matter of your land, we have a solution. We have issued three million title deeds to protect ownership of land. That is how you solve a problem not by inciting Kenyans,” he said.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

Among the development projects planned are building of the Kajiado- Magadi road, more schools in the region and making secondary education free, and building technical training institutions.

“Those who don’t go to university will join the TTIs (Technical Training Institutions) and after, every year, the government will be giving paid internships to more than 100,000 youth,” he said.

Further, he promised the community that the government would offset loans borrowed from the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) to cushion them against the effects of drought.

Mr Kenyatta was accompanied by National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale and local politicians among them Jubilee  gubernatorial candidate Joseph ole Lenku, and Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery.

LAUNCHED ROAD

In Kajiado, President Kenyatta launched a 70-km road, and waived hundreds of millions of shillings in loans owed to AFC, to give livestock farmers a fresh start.

“The Maa community must keep united. Don’t buy into the violent agenda of our competitors. It will retard development.

It will erase the gains we have made,” he said.

After the completion of the road from Mashuru to Kajiado, said President Kenyatta, the government will start another phase to extend it to Suswa and Loitokitok to ensure the whole county is interconnected.

NEED UNITY

The President also drummed up support for Jubilee candidates including Mr Lenku and others for the positions of MP and MCA.

Mr Duale echoed the President’s remarks on violence. “Kenyans don’t want violence; we need unity. Those uttering tribal remarks are bad spirits like those that led to post-election violence,” he said.

Mr Lenku promised the President that Jubilee would win the majority of votes in the county and re-elect him.

— Additional reporting by PSCU