KALENJIN COUNCIL OF ELDERS ON THE FIRING LINE
Kanini Evans Kariuki
October 30, 2009
APPOINTMENT OF EX-SOLDIERS AS ELDERS OF THE KALENJIN ETHNIC COUNCIL RAISES QUESTIONS
THE Kalenjin Political Association(KPA)has launched a blistering attack on the newly-appointed Kalenjin council of elders who mainly comprise retired soldiers charging that they cannot be entrusted with the mandate to lead or advise the community or any issue.
Addressing the press,KPA chairman Simion Ngeny stated that it was against the Kalenjin social and cultural norms "for people who have held guns or any assortment of other weapons to assume leadership positions".
Ngeny told the press that the Kalenjin council of elders mainly consisted of retired Kenya Army Generals.
The chairman named the said Generals as Daudi Tonje, Lazarus Sumbeiywo, Augustine Cheruiyot, John Seii and William Cheramboss who were recently appointed as elders of the council.
"The Kalenjin community cannot allow such people to address them on issues of governance since, as soldiers, they are naturally associated with war even if they have already quit office", asserted Ngeny during the press briefing.
According to Kalenjin tradition, "anybody associated with war" should not lead the community, the chairman further stated.
Ngeny questioned what agenda Tonje, Sumbeiywo, Cheruiyot, Seii and Cheramboss had for the Kalenjin community saying their appointment as elders of the ethnic council raised a lot of eyebrows.
"The composition of the council members with the retired Kenya Army officers on board,is as curious as its timing, and one is left with no option but to look beyond the hill", said Ngeny whose organization is charged with the task of crusading for the community´s rights.
He petitioned the world to closely "observe events" in the Kalenjin council of elders who were appointed last Saturday during a function in Eldoret town, Rift Valley province- the hotbed of the 2007 ugly orgy of violence precipitated by the disputed General election results.
"Their agenda is only and best known to themselves and their master!" Ngeny thundered.
He told the press that the elders whom he said were irregularly appointed to the council, do not have the capacity to chart the political destiny of the Kalenjin community.
Ngeny claimed that a top Rift Valley politician (name withheld) had influenced the appointment of the ex-soldiers to the council in a desperate and malicious "behind-the-scenes power game", for his own self-aggrandizement.
At the same time,he demanded that elections be held right from the grassroots to pick right-thinking and upright elders who should sit in the council "but not the ex-soldiers who had been rejected by the community".
"If there should be genuine elders to lead the community, then retired president Daniel arap Moi, is the right choice since he is an elder statesman having led the country for 24 years", Ngeny suggested.
Moi, the KPA boss pointed out, had the capacity to chart the way forward for the Kalenjin community of which he is a senior member, but not the retired Generals who neither have an agenda nor the reason to justify their leadership posts.
Will the running brouhaha revolving around the controversial appointment of the Kalenjin council of elders jolt to a halt? Only time will tell!
THE Kalenjin Political Association(KPA)has launched a blistering attack on the newly-appointed Kalenjin council of elders who mainly comprise retired soldiers charging that they cannot be entrusted with the mandate to lead or advise the community or any issue.
Addressing the press,KPA chairman Simion Ngeny stated that it was against the Kalenjin social and cultural norms "for people who have held guns or any assortment of other weapons to assume leadership positions".
Ngeny told the press that the Kalenjin council of elders mainly consisted of retired Kenya Army Generals.
The chairman named the said Generals as Daudi Tonje, Lazarus Sumbeiywo, Augustine Cheruiyot, John Seii and William Cheramboss who were recently appointed as elders of the council.
"The Kalenjin community cannot allow such people to address them on issues of governance since, as soldiers, they are naturally associated with war even if they have already quit office", asserted Ngeny during the press briefing.
According to Kalenjin tradition, "anybody associated with war" should not lead the community, the chairman further stated.
Ngeny questioned what agenda Tonje, Sumbeiywo, Cheruiyot, Seii and Cheramboss had for the Kalenjin community saying their appointment as elders of the ethnic council raised a lot of eyebrows.
"The composition of the council members with the retired Kenya Army officers on board,is as curious as its timing, and one is left with no option but to look beyond the hill", said Ngeny whose organization is charged with the task of crusading for the community´s rights.
He petitioned the world to closely "observe events" in the Kalenjin council of elders who were appointed last Saturday during a function in Eldoret town, Rift Valley province- the hotbed of the 2007 ugly orgy of violence precipitated by the disputed General election results.
"Their agenda is only and best known to themselves and their master!" Ngeny thundered.
He told the press that the elders whom he said were irregularly appointed to the council, do not have the capacity to chart the political destiny of the Kalenjin community.
Ngeny claimed that a top Rift Valley politician (name withheld) had influenced the appointment of the ex-soldiers to the council in a desperate and malicious "behind-the-scenes power game", for his own self-aggrandizement.
At the same time,he demanded that elections be held right from the grassroots to pick right-thinking and upright elders who should sit in the council "but not the ex-soldiers who had been rejected by the community".
"If there should be genuine elders to lead the community, then retired president Daniel arap Moi, is the right choice since he is an elder statesman having led the country for 24 years", Ngeny suggested.
Moi, the KPA boss pointed out, had the capacity to chart the way forward for the Kalenjin community of which he is a senior member, but not the retired Generals who neither have an agenda nor the reason to justify their leadership posts.
Will the running brouhaha revolving around the controversial appointment of the Kalenjin council of elders jolt to a halt? Only time will tell!
Print
Email
