"No more collection of bodies and quelling conflicts every election time and if the proposed amendments in the 2010 Constitution is going to cure this problem, so be it."
Those are the remarks of the Rift Valey Regional Commissioner, George Natembeya.
Natembeya spoke on Friday during the launch of the Building Bridges Initiative signature collection in Nakuru which was officiated by Governor Lee Kinyanjui.
He said that most of the police officers in the country, especially from his region which has been the epicenter of pre and Post-Election Violence since 1992 were traumatised and needed counseling.
Natembeya noted that there had been fights in the region every election year for the past three decades, since 2002 when the nation voted out the Kanu regime.
“Elections have been like war, the government has had to deploy more police officers and enhance personnel at hospitals while at the same increasing their stock every electioneering period because there is anticipated bloodshed,” he lamented.
While Nakuru has been a haven of peace, it has been also an epicenter of post-poll violence since the 90s at the advent of the multi-party system in Kenya.
It all started in Molo in the run-up, during, and after the 1992 general elections when members of one community became a target of aggression in most parts of Rift Valley and pockets of other parts of the country such as Mombasa.
The monster that was later christened 1992/1997 Infamous Tribal Clashes was repeated five years later and only subsided, albeit briefly in 2002 only to recur bigger and uglier in 2007/2008 when more than 1300 people we killed, property worth billions of shillings destroyed, and thousands displaced.
Natembeya said voting will never be a reason for one community to fight another if the proposed laws pass because power will be shared.
“Nakuru will receive 700 booklets for signing which will be distributed to all the 11 sub-counties in the counties to commence the collection immediately."
Present at the event were MPs Martha Wangare (Gilgil), David Gikaria (Nakuru Town East), Kimani Kuria (Molo) and Samuel Arama of Nakuru Town West.
Governor Kinyanjui said Nakuru will be at the forefront in supporting BBI saying that the document was a symbol of hope to different groups of people countrywide among them the youth, people living with disabilities, and women.
He said affirmed that the document that proposes increased funding to the counties brought posterity to the country and not seeking a position for individuals.
Kinyanjui said the county was in the process of forming a secretariat to front the campaign for the document besides having already trained 20 Trainers of Trainers for BBI.
