Nakuru governor Lee Kinyanjui has called on residents of the county to maintain peace ahead of the August 9 general elections.
He asked voters, especially the youth, to refuse to be used to propagate hate and violence and urged them to vote wisely and peacefully.
“Choose your preferred candidate, whoever wins we accept to support them and move on. Youths do not accept to be used to propagate violence,” Kinyanjui said.
His remarks came after the NCIC listed the counties of Nairobi, Nakuru, Kericho, Kisumu, Uasin Gishu and Mombasa as highly likely to experience electoral violence during the elections.
According to NCIC, drugs and substance abuse is rampant in the country and could be a catalyst for electoral violence.
The government has, however, vowed to deal firmly with electoral violence, even as the National Cohesion and Integration Commission named the six hot spot areas.
Governor Kinyanjui said Kenyans must resist to be manipulated to engage in hate speech and propaganda and instead embrace alternative methods of dispute resolution in the face of conflicts and electoral disagreements.
The governor was quick to note that Nakuru county is still facing challenges and asked its residents to re-elect him to complete the projects he started in his first term. BY THE STAR