Leaders of the Nyumba Kumi initiative from Riakemuma village, Sameta sub-county have been warned against interfering with families' domestic affairs, as it is not part of their mandate.
Riakemuma village Elder, Kasmir Ayuma has told Nyumba Kumi officials in his village to respect families' private issues, and allow them to resolve their disputes without interference from external forces as this will dent the image of the government-sponsored initiative in addressing matters pertaining citizens' security.
Speaking to this writer in his village, Maobe commended the Nyumba Kumi initiative for enhancing local security through prompt sharing of information among villagers and the Nyumba Kumi leaders making it easy to address issues of insecurity.
“Since the inception of Nyumba Kumi initiative, there has been a reduction on issues of insecurity within my village, since villagers are more alert and promptly volunteer relevant information either to the village elders or chief for immediate action to avert insecurity in our village,” stated Maobe.
He asked Nyumba Kumi officials to attend refresher trainings sponsored by the Government on the ground to capacity build themselves with more knoowledge, especially on their roles to avoid overstepping their mandate in the course of discharging their duties.
Hezekiah Ocharo, one of the Nyumba Kumi officials from Riakemuma village welcomed the initiative, but appealed to the government to empower the officials in terms of knowledge and what the law requires of them while discharging their duties.
Ocharo echoed Maobe's sentiments that the role of Nyumba Kumi officials is not to interfere with internal domestic disputes involving families, and instead should stick to their core function of volunteering information to law enforcement agencies in case of any issue of security lapse in their immediate villages.
“As officials of Nyumba Kumi, we are not allowed to resolve disputes involving families or subject members of the public to corporal punishment, instead we should volunteer information on such cases to the relevant authorities for action if need be,” stated Ocharo.