On Wednesday, police were forced to use teargas to disperse a group of youth in Kericho town who barricaded the Kericho - Kisumu highway.
They were protesting what they termed as provocation from their Kisumu counterparts whom they accused of pelting stones at their vehicles.
This was after a section of youth in Ahero went to the streets on Tuesday to demand the release of the self-proclaimed general of the National Resistance Movement Miguna Miguna.
The group in Ahero engaged the police in running battles leaving one person dead and property of unknown value destroyed.
The protests continued on Wednesday when the news of Miguna Miguna’s deportation went viral. This prompted the youths in Kericho to organize retaliatory attacks where they targeted vehicles heading to Kisumu .
The demonstrations which were meant to ensure Miguna Miguna is released from police custody took a tribal route when the protesters started targeting rival communities.
The good spirit of brotherhood between Kisumu and Kericho is being eroded and the rest of Kenyans, especially our political and religious leaders, should condemn these tribal attacks in the strongest terms possible.
We should not take this for granted. What started as a protest to release a political prisoner may soon degenerate into something as big and as ugly as ethnic cleansing.
The Kericho - Kisumu highway is one of the major highways in Kenya connecting the Rift Valley to Nyanza and Western regions. If the highway is blocked, even for a day, the two counties (Kisumu and Kericho) and the whole country at large will suffer a lot of loss in revenue.
Businesses will come to a standstill and the flow of goods will be hampered.
Leaders from both sides should come out and restore peace.On Wednesday, some leaders from the Kericho stepped in to calm the situation. The same should be replicated by their Kisumu counterparts.
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