•The group led by Wako Dida from Saku said the county is home to more than 15 tribes and any reckless statements will ignite conflicts.
•They accused the senator of making remarks that are very dangerous in a county that had experienced tribal conflicts that lefts hundreds of people dead and thousands displaced.
Image: COURTESY
A section of Marsabit residents has condemned Senator Mohamed Chute for the utterances he made on the local FM station.
The group led by Wako Dida from Saku said the county is home to more than 15 tribes and any reckless statements will ignite conflicts.
They accused the senator of making remarks that are very dangerous in a county that had experienced tribal conflicts that lefts hundreds of people dead and thousands displaced.
The Senator allegedly mentioned the name of certain tribes in a live show as the beneficiaries of the county's projects.
Wako said the tribe mentioned by the senator has the right to get a tender in a competitive process and asked the senator to apologize for his remarks to the said community and the county at large.
He accused the senator of failing the county residents when he was given the Sh3 billion Badasa dam project and Gottu Garthi in Saku, which he said the two projects remain white projects.
He said Saku residents currently facing water shortages due to the two stalled projects.
He said senator Chute has the right to criticize the government but currently, the county is facing numerous challenges of drought and he should have joined the governor in supporting affected residents.
He urged county leaders to bury their political differences and work together for the benefit of the residents and not allow their competition to undermine peace and development.
According to Wako, the leaders need to be at the forefront in fostering unity and any of their political differences should be settled amicably to safeguard the stability of the county.
"Political differences should not be an impediment to development. Leaders have a role to play in ensuring the citizens live together peacefully," he said.
Attempts to reach the Senator to respond to accusations were futile. He could not answer our text messages also.
We pledge to give his side of the story once we access him.
Wako asked leaders to focus on transforming the county and lifting the lives of the people instead of dwelling on misplaced rivalry.
He said public differences between the two leaders are not good for the county's development adding that public engagement tends to fuel tension among the people.
Similar calls were made by Hassan Wario who asked county leaders to put aside their political differences and work together in a mature manner in the interest of their people.
Image: ABDIKADIR ABDI
He said leaders should focus their energy on developing and rolling out effective service delivery and work together to provide the stability needed to achieve greater development.
They said the government has succeeded in making reforms that impacted positively on the lives of ordinary citizens.
Shuke Halakhe, a resident of Saku, explained that the health care reforms by the Governor have reduced the suffering of women in accessing antenatal care and health services.
"Unlike what we had in the past, maternity wigs with 200-bed capacities were built, medical health personnel and doctors are deployed," she said
"This has reduced the suffering of women, particularly expectant mothers in accessing adequate healthcare services," She added
She said the county government has made reforms and carried out development projects across the county and we will support the governor in our own capacity to achieve his goals.
Sora Kunni, Borana council of elders said Governor Mohamud has exhibited the true meaning of servant leadership and as a community, we are going to rally behind him to make the county better.
He thanked the governor for relief food supply, saying the most affected by hunger are already receiving food aid launched on Friday.
Image: ABDIKADIR ABDI
He appealed to the National government and Non-governmental organisations to scale up intervention measures and support schools so that learners do not drop out of school due to hunger.
Another resident, Mohamed Isack called upon all county leaders to pool together the resources in providing support to hunger-stricken residents.
He welcomed the move by the Governor to suspend development projects, saying human life matters.
Marsabit Governor Mohamud Ali on Friday flagged off trucks of relief food to at least 20,000 households ravaged by drought.
Each beneficiary will get 10 kg of rice, 5 kg of beans and one litre of cooking oil.
Governor said though the relief ratio is small, it will help families before the next consignment.
The county boss said the change of climate and severe droughts affected almost all residents, promising his administration will intervene in any way possible to assist the people.
He said the county government is working closely with the national government and donors to save lives.
He directed the county secretary and sub-county administrators to thoroughly monitor food distribution to ensure fairness adding that anyone found diverting relief food will be dealt with accordingly.