Dado, Wario call for peaceful campaigns in Tana River

Former Interior CAS Hussein Dado and his fellow governorship aspirant Bura MP Ali Wario have urged Tana River county residents to maintain peace during the campaign.

The two, who met at Madogo trading centre for the first time on Sunday since their controversial separate endorsements two weeks ago, appealed to their supporters to uphold peace.

Their appeal comes after a commotion was witnessed between their supporters ahead of the function that was meant to celebrate the creation of Bangale subcounty. 

During the commotion that lasted several minutes, supporters of the two taunted each other as they sang traditional songs in praise of their preferred candidates.

The two come from the Orma community.

It took several leaders present to calm down the two rival groups. Dado and Wario had not yet arrived as tension was building up.

According to Ahmed Hassan, a political commentator, the community is among the front runners for the seat going by their numerical strength. However, they risk loosing it for the second time if they don’t agree on one candidate.

Dado lost the seat in 2017 to incumbent Dhado Godhana from the Pokomo community.

Speaking at the function, Dado pleaded with his supporters to maintain peace, saying he would rather loose the seat than tolerate violence.

“Let this be the last time my supporters are causing mayhem in a political gathering. I want to state categorically that all my campaign rallies will be devoid of violence,” Dado said.

He added: “Having a background in security and having served in various capacities in the provincial administration, I will be the last person to condone violence."

"It is of no use winning a seat through violence because the end result will see your own people suffering while you are purporting to enjoy power.”

Wario, on his part, emphasised on the need for the community to maintain peace for them to win the support of other communities.

“It is an open secret that as a community we cannot win this seat without the support of other communities in the county," he said. 

"And the moment we are associated with violence no community will be willing to only support us or form alliance with us.”

The two steered clear of any possible reconciliatory meeting that will see one of them step down for the other.

Two weeks ago, elders from the Orma community in a parallel ceremony endorsed Dado and Wario in Wayu and Bura respectively.

(edited by Amol Awuor)