NCIC Commissioner Gitile Naituli addressing the press in Busia recently. [Photo: the-star.co.ke]
The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) is calling for complementary support from the political leadership across the country in its quest to build cohesion among citizens.
NCIC Commissioner Prof. Natuli Gitile said a month after a protracted and an acrimonious political season, elected leaders must embark on championing causes that will unify citizens on common fronts of social economic development.
Speaking on Thursday at a reconciliation meeting with leaders of various ethnic communities and politicians in Nakuru County, Naituli said leaders have a responsibility to lead citizens to a shared vision.
In an apparent reference to months of political squabbling in Nakuru County, the commissioner said rhetoric on the campaign trail had increasingly polarized the country.
On this score, he called on citizens to also support their leaders in formulating policies that will foster cohesive development.
Bahati Member of Parliament Kimani Ngunjiri pledged to mobilize lawmakers in the county in a peacebuilding drive.
As one of the Pangani six indicted with incitement in June last year, the lawmaker called for peace and tolerance to dissenting political ideology among citizens in the country.
The Chairman of the Rift Valley Council of Elders Kimani Maigwa among other representatives of various ethnic communities in the county urged citizens to unite.
Last September in a stakeholder’s forum in Naivasha, NCIC Chairman Francis Ole Kaparo reported that the commission had recorded a high hate index in various Counties soon after the August 8 General elections.