Women have been identified as a key pillar in educating the public on the need to have peaceful campaigns ahead of the 2027 poll.
Nyeri Deputy Commissioner Ngunyi Maina noted that as the county edges closer to the next general poll, women need to be involved in activities and programs geared towards promoting peaceful coexistence among all Kenyans irrespective of ethnicity or political affiliations.
Maina who was addressing the press on the sidelines of a stakeholder’s forum on electoral preparedness at the Nyeri National Polytechnic yesterday also stated the Government was in full support of women in calling for a peaceful and credible polls.
The five-day capacity building forum which has been organized by the Office of Registrar of Political Parties (ORPP) is targeting political party officials, youth, persons with disabilities (PWDs), Civil Society Organizations and Faith Based Organizations.
“We are here today meeting women within our county as a whole to deliberate issues on elections through the office of Registrar of Political Parties and we are discussing on how we can have managed ourselves especially on issues of security. Women are very key in trying to manage any conflict in the society and women are also very key in bringing peace within our country,” he told the press.
The administrator similarly touched on the issue of rising cases of hooliganism in the county which he attributed to a section of leaders in pursuit of achieving personal political goals.
He urged the women and especially women leaders to take a central role in assisting the government by advising young people on the danger of joining such gangs since they only lead to lawlessness, loss of life and people’s property.
Maina said the county had in recent months seen a steady trend of goons taking advantage of demonstrations to break into private businesses in order to loot and warned such criminals that security agents were slowly catching up on them and their sponsors.
He also said security agents had already identified that the majority of youths being used by politicians to engage in lawless activities hail from the informal sectors such as Blue valley and Witemere.
“We are asking the women in the society and our people at large to talk to our young people not to engage in activities of goons and not to accept to be given money by politicians because what we have realized is that goons are a creation of politicians. If it were not for politicians, we could not be having goons in our county and country at large. We are also asking politicians to sell their ideas to the public and let the people be free to choose them through the ballot and not to use our frustrated young people who are not employed,” he added.
“We hope that this kind of early engagement will promote peaceful elections and in the course of time help in the reduction of disputes and basically promote general public confidence in Kenya’s democratic processes,” said the deputy county commissioner.
During this year’s Madaraka Day celebrations, Nyeri County Commissioner Josephat Biwott disclosed that criminals disguised as protesters had been infiltrating peaceful demos with the sole intention of breaking into people’s businesses to steal
Biwott said while the Constitution gave Kenyans the right to picket, it never granted license for anyone to enjoy such a right at the expense of another.
“As members of the County Security Team we have vowed to put an end to this hooliganism by goons who are stealing and destroying people’s business in the name of protests. We have sat with our business operators and officials from the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industries and agreed to put an end to this madness,” said Biwott while addressing the public during the celebrations at Muthuaini Girls Secondary School grounds.
“There is no country where protesters are given liberty to burn tyres on roads, disrupt traffic and block even an elderly woman taking her milk to the market all in the name of fighting for one’s rights. Lawful protest does not entail curtailing the other person’s rights,” he pointed out.
On her part, Central Region Registrar of Political Parties Coordinator Judy Gathoni said her office was emphatic on the need for electoral stakeholders to join hands with state organs such as the Independent Boundaries Electoral Commission (IEBC) in spearheading efforts to warrant peaceful campaigns in the run up to the next general election.
Gathoni said the week-long Electoral Preparedness Capacity Building Forum was intended to sensitize the participants on practices that may negatively impact political parties and their supporters under the Political Parties Act alongside other applicable electoral laws.
“We are running this Electoral Preparedness Capacity Building Forum as part of our Public Private Partnership 2027 preparedness initiative. We are intending to have these series running from June 15 to June 19 and our target is County Political party’s officials and representatives. We want to have Special Interest groups forum with women groups, youth groups, PWDs and eventually with Civil societies and Faith Based organizations within the region and particularly in Nyeri,” she stated.
By Samuel Maina
