Governor John Nyagarama has the police and a few loyal supporters in Keroka to thank after they managed to avert deadly demonstrations on Sunday.
Hundreds of angry residents had gathered in the streets of Keroka Town to express their anguish on how the region is being run despite millions of shillings generated from local revenue.
Lead organiser Simba Kibeni accused the police of allegedly receiving bribes to protect the regime from responding to accountability issues.
"We had written letters to the police asking them to grant us security. Picketing is a constitutional right. We are shocked that they now want to engage us in running battles. This isn't going to end here," he lamented.
By 10am, tension built up in the border town as angry residents waited for organisers to clear with the police ahead of the demonstrations.
However, the government, through Director Monitoring and Implementation Momanyi Nyagarama, accused organisers of playing politics with development, adding that they should have first sought audience with Governor Nyagarama.
"We should embrace dialogue all the time. Picketing cannot solve our problems. As a united people, let's go to the table and solve these issues."
Earlier, there were claims that Governor John Nyagarama had diployed a group of hooligans to counter demonstrators who are believed to have been hired by opponent Walter Nyambati.
#hivisasaoriginal