Uasin Gishu Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno addressing journalists in Eldoret Town on Monday, January 15, 2018. [Photo/ Elvanis Ronoh].
Uasin Gishu Deputy Governor Daniel Chemno has hit out at Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui for accusing Governor Jackson Mandago of ethnic profiling.
This comes after hawkers in Eldoret raised concerns over being harassed by county askaris and police during an operation to flush them out of the town’s streets.
Lee has asked the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to take actions against Governor Mandago.
Speaking in Eldoret Town on Monday, Chemno termed the allegations by Governor Lee as ill intended, adding that Mandago treats all businessmen equally regardless of their political or tribal affiliations.
“I want to condemn the utterances by Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui with the strongest terms possible. We are a law-abiding county and we treat everyone equally. We are not frustrating Kikuyus as purported. We only arrested those involved in the sale of bhang and illegal liquor and not hawkers,” said Chemno.
“For heaven’s sake, how did they want us to handle criminals? He should deal with his county and stop being involved in other counties’ businesses. We are living peacefully with one another and such utterances may lead to war,” he added.
He, however, called upon hawkers to occupy the hawker’s wholesale market instead of selling their goods on the roadside.
“As a county government we constructed the hawkers’ wholesale market for them to use, but as I am talking now the market is unoccupied forcing county askaris to remove them from the streets. Let them follow the law and no one will touch them,” added Chemno.