The Service Party leader Mwangi Kiunjuri is calling for concerted efforts to unite warring communities in Laikipia county.
Kiunjuri said since the clashes started in July last year, communities living in Ol Moran and Sosian wards have been living in fear.
There has been a massive, KDF-backed multi-agency operation, but the tension persists. Despite more police posts and patrols, new houses, aid, health, land surveys, title deeds and other services, communities are still afraid of criminal gangs.
The government also held community peace meetings and has been working with elders.
Interior CS Fred Matiang'i said the invaders were not simply after pasture and water for animals and called it violence organised by criminal gangs seeking to take back "their" land.
The clashes involving invading criminals and pastoralists saw hundreds displaced, at least 50 homes torched and hundreds of cattle stolen by armed gangs.
Eight people were killed, including three police officers.
These communities have indicated that they want to live in peace. We will sit with elders from the Pokot, Samburu and Kikuyu communities so we can quell the tension
The national government declared Laikipia North and Laikipia West constituencies disturbed zones and deployed the military.
Despite the heavy presence of police officers, Kiunjuri said many who fled are yet to return to their farms and markets are yet to become fully operational, he said.
The former Agriculture CS said he has been making efforts to quell the conflicts and allow residents to resume their normal lives. He said he will work with former Laikipia North MP Mathew Lempurkel to make that happen.
“These communities have indicated that they want to live in peace. We will sit with elders from the Pokot, Samburu and Kikuyu communities so we can quell the tension,” he said.
The meetings will be held separately before another meeting is held with local leaders and another general meeting held with locals in Ol Moran.
Kiunjuri said the meeting will help establish the cause of the conflicts and help come up with lasting solutions.
“If there were no clashes between 2013 and 2017 then we need to sit down and establish why they are happening now,” he said.
Kiunjuri said he is ready to work with leaders regardless of their political affiliation to ensure peace and that he will be reaching out to them.
“We have no permanent enemies or friends in politics and we have agreed to work together and go to the villages. What is most important is not the presence of the police but for locals to sit and agree,” he added.
In the next three weeks, Kiunjuri said they will meet with the elders and the meetings will culminate in inter-community meetings.
He said his aim is to see security officers start to leave the two areas and residents living together in peace while respecting each other.
Lempurkel, an ODM party member, said the Kikuyu community is the majority in Laikipia and cannot be done away with.
The former MP appealed to the government to aid their efforts to provide a platform for talks among the involved communities.
“After we are done with the meetings, I am sure there will be a major difference,” he said.
(Edited by V Graham)
