Deputy President William Ruto has been praised for assuring Kikuyus and other communities living in the Rift Valley that they are there to stay.
Speaking in Eldoret on Saturday, Ruto told Kikuyus and other communities in Rift Valley not to consider themselves as outsiders in the region.
Nyeri Town MP Ngunjiri Wambugu has lauded the DP for publicly assuring the residents.
“I note that it is the first time Deputy President William Ruto has actually given this assurance but am glad he has done it,” wrote Wambugu on his Facebook page.
Wambugu called on the DP to be giving such assurances regularly so that people appreciate and accept what he means.
“My additional request to the Deputy President on this is that he must keep saying this as often as he can, until those that might not believe that he means it - whether Kalenjin or Kikuyu - accept and realise that he does,” Wambugu said.
Ruto told the communities that they should not consider themselves as outsiders in the region saying they also have the right to participate in business and leadership regardless of their ethnicity.
The DP said the ruling Jubilee party has worked hard to bring all Kenyans together and told area residents to reject divisions brought about by politics.
“We are all one. We have to do business together and we also have to participate in the leadership of this region,” the DP said.
He spoke at Yamumbi in Eldoret during the burial of businessman Joseph Karubio.
On Wednesday Wambugu called on the DP to publicly rebuke and condemn inciting remarks by some residents of his Rift Valley backyard.
He also told him to order for the arrest of a woman who was captured in a video warning that the Kikuyu community must leave Molo (Nakuru county) if Mau forest settlers are evicted without getting compensation or alternative land.
The video that emerged against the background of the raging debate of the planned Mau eviction went viral on social media, prompting a public uproar.
“Let's also see and hear you [Ruto] publicly disassociating yourself and the entire Kalenjin political leadership from such warlike voices,” Wambugu said.
(edited by O. Owino)
