Garissa Township residents urged to maintain peace ahead of MP by-election

NGOs are creating awareness among Garissa Township residents on the need to maintain peace before, during and after elections.

Voters in Garissa Township constituency will on January 5 elect their MP after former legislator Aden Duale was sworn in as Defence CS.

Garissa Township is a cosmopolitan constituency and has over the years witnessed high-octane politics compared to other constituencies in the county.

A  few weeks to the August 9 general election, Duale’s convoy was attacked by supporters from a rival camp while campaigning in Bula Iftin.

Ijara Women for Peace coordinator Khadija Ibrahim said the main objective of ‘Uchaguzi Bila Balaa’ initiative is to prevent election-related conflicts in the area ahead of the by-election.

She was speaking on the sidelines of the one-day workshop.

Khadija said such meetings bringing different stakeholders together are important since they help in planning and coming up with recommendations on the way forward.

“Women and the youth play a big role in election-related violence in Garissa. Women are used to fuel conflict through poetry and songs while  youth are used by selfish politicians to cause chaos to advance their interest. Therefore, we are here to facilitate actions that bring them together to build peace in the community,” she said.

Ismail Ali urged residents of Garissa to remain peaceful, saying the election was a one-day event.

“At the end of the day, we have a country and county to protect. This is where we all call home and so we should all strive to maintain peace like we did during the just-concluded polls,” he said.

Abdi Bulle, the chairman of persons with disabilities, said whenever election violence occurs, PWDs suffer the most.

They recommended that there be peace caravans in identified hotspots in Garissa Township. These include Soko Ng'ombe, Garissa Ndogo, Bula Iftin, Bula Sheikh and Waberi.

They also urged religious leaders to continue conducting peace and reconciliation sermons in mosques and security agencies to carry out patrols at Garissa markets and shopping centres.

Local radio FMs have also been urged to convey positive messages.

The stakeholders said the IEBC should consider relocating Garissa Ndogo polling centre to a safer place since it's just an open space which is not safe for security and election staff.

The meeting was attended by security officials, religious leaders, women, youth, the civil society, PWDs and election monitors.

The programme is being funded by Search for Common Ground through the European Union.