A Kisumu businessman has told Governor Jack Ranguma to break his silence and move swiftly to address the Maseno border dispute.
Erick Okeyo said there was an urgent need for the governor to engage his Vihiga counterpart Moses Akaranga on the row that is now brewing tension in Maseno.
“Unless this is handled soberly and very quickly it can spill into animosity among the student community in Maseno University,” said Okeyo urging Ranguma to wake up and engage Akaranga to solve the dispute.
Last week, Akaranga claimed that Maseno Town is within Vihiga County but was grabbed in the 1960s by former Vice President Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.
Akaranga said his county has been losing a lot of revenue to the neighbouring Kisumu County on the opportunities in the town which hosts Maseno University, Maseno School among other social facilities.
Okeyo said the Luo and Abaluhya communities have co-existed for years, doing businesses together and even intermarried and, therefore, such a matter should not split them.
“The critical voice to here is the governor’s on this issues. He must come out and declare his stand on the matter whether he supports Akaranga and what measures he is putting in place to sort out the dispute,” said Okeyo who was addressing the media in Kisumu.
He asked for calm from both parties in the border to avert tension and make way for a more cohesive agreement.
Akaranga had complained that Kisumu County was collecting revenue at Maseno Township and other markets in two locations which he claims are supposed to be in Vihiga calling for an urgent review to avert trouble.
His sentiments have however not gone down well with some leaders such as Kisumu West Member of Parliament Olago Aluoch who called for Akaranga’s arrest and probe over incitement.
Olago said the Governor has been using reckless and irresponsible language in addressing the issue of Kisumu-Vihiga border which he said may cause violence among the two communities living along the border.
The legislator called on the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to summon Mr Akaranga so as to shed light on what he knows about the border as Akaranga’s remarks could trigger violence between the communities which have lived together since pre-colonial period.