Commission to investigate Kericho Senator’s utterances on Sondu Market

 

Two Commissioners from the National Cohesion and Integration Commission{NCIC} Eng. Philip Okundi{C} and Dorcas Kedogo address the press in Kisumu today where the Commission has said it will investigate the utterances by Kericho Senator on Sondu Market-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo

By Dickson Odhiambo

June 16, 2021

Commission to investigate Kericho Senator’s utterances on Sondu Market

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission says it will conduct investigations about the recent Kericho Senator’s utterances if it was meant to stir ethnic tension among the communities trading within the Sondu Market that is in the borders of both Kisumu and Kericho Counties.

NCIC Commissioner Eng.Philip Okundi says the Commission will conduct investigations into the matter saying it does not believe that an elected leader can take his time to incite the people against certain things they live by.

Okundi who spoke in Kisumu today during the Kenya National Commission on UNESCO Youth workshop on Culture, Heritage and Cohesion said peaceful co-existence is very important thing among Kenyans hence the need to promote this.

The Commissioner says leaders should learn to talk within the law without trying to incite the people and do so within the framework of peaceful co-existence.

“Peaceful co-existence means the people at Sondu Market can trade together while doing their businesses without any issue among them,” Okundi says.

He says Sondu Market is known for a long time as a place where there is a market between Kericho and Kisumu County and the people have been trading peacefully over a long period of time.

“We are taking up the matter and will investigate what causes such kind of sayings and if there are such then there are channels to be followed,” he adds.

He adds that both the Kisumu Governor and his Kericho Counterpart have adequate capacities to talk among themselves to ensure that the market lives peacefully.

The NCIC Sentiments comes barely a day after a section of MCAs from the County Assembly of Kisumu said the Sondu Market is within the borders of Kisumu County and not Kericho County.

The MCAs say the available evidence shows that Sondu Market has from Independence been on the Kisumu side of the border.

Addressing the press in Kisumu today to register their concerns over the recent remarks by Kericho Senator Haroun Cheruyiot that Sondu Market belongs to Kericho County, the MCAs led by South East Nyakach Ward Representative Johnson Guya termed the senator’s remarks as being in bad taste, populist and could easily spark mistrust and unnecessary tension between the communities trading at Sondu Market.

Kericho Senator Haroun Cheruyiot has been under heavy criticism from a section of leaders from Kisumu County after his recent sentiment that Sondu Market is in Kericho County while claiming that Revenue Officers from Kisumu County  have been collecting the revenues there illegally in the market while harassing traders from Kericho County.

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