Hundreds of families evicted from their farms during the 2007-08 Post-Election Violence are still crying for help as they continue living in rented houses at Kihigo trading centre and Njoro Township.
Sixteen years later, residents of seven villages namely Mwireri, Wendani, Mutito A, Kiugu, Bondeni and parts of Mugumoini are yet to go back to their homes even after government and development partners constructed houses for them.
The residents who included community leaders from Kalenjin and Kikuyu communities narrated their post-traumatic stress, mistrust between neighbouring communities and fear.
Sad stories from both sides were told during a peace dialogue meeting at Lamudiac Catholic Church sponsored by Uraia, the United States International Agency for Development (USAID) and Change, Transform (ACT) which are meant to reconcile communities that have been clashing over politics.
The peace dialogues which are being implemented by the Center for Transformational Leadership through Kenya Electoral Conflicts Mitigation and Civic/Voter Education Support Programme (ECCES) target communities in Njoro, Molo, Kuresoi North,Kuresoi South, Nakuru Town West and Rongai among other areas that affected by election conflicts.
Leah Njeri, a victim narrated how she escaped death by a whisker during the PEV in an attack that left her husband dead and her home destroyed.
“I was shot three times with arrows by a group of youths who mercilessly killed my husband in broad daylight even as he pleaded for mercy,” she said.
Njeri said the worst part of the PEV is the generational hate spurred by the losses and continued mistrust between the communities.
“My children were very young during the violence, now the two elder ones are in college and my efforts to convince them that we can live harmoniously with our neighbours fall on deaf ears because they know how their father died,” she said.
Peter Kimani of the Catholic Peace and Justice Commission said there was a need for confidence-building measures in the area to ensure neighbours were at ease with each other.
“The communities should live in the present and forget the past and it is only through engagements and confessions in dialogues like what is happening here today that true healing will be achieved,” he said.
Kimani added that forgiveness was vital for a true truce among the communities in the area and that has been experiencing violence since 1992 during the Infamous Tribal Clashes.
Bancy Wanjiru, the Executive Director of the Center for Transformational Leadership urged the people who participated in the peace dialogues to guide their communities toward peaceful co-existence.
She urged the elders, parents and community opinion leaders to help the children and direct the future generations to love and trust their neighbours.
