“If there is Al Shabab why don’t they (government) arrest them? Businesses in Garissa have collapsed!”/XINHUA
Emotions ran high during the press briefing with leaders recalling how innocent civilians and even children had to pay for crimes they did not commit.
When Bahallow Abdi Sheikh got a chance to speak, he recalled how the events took him back to the bloody Wagalla massacre of 1984.
“People from Northern Kenya have been marginalised since independence and it was very painful being a Kenyan Somali or a personality from Northern Kenya. We are victims of the 1962 referendum and we must go back to the drawing board,” charged the emotional Sheikh.
“Kenya has to accept us as citizens. We have nothing else to say,” he said before leaving the high table to cool down.
His colleagues would later be seen comforting him.
The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) had earlier spoken to Capital FM News about the violence being witnessed in several parts of the country.
NCIC Chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia urged President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to address the nation and call for peace.
“The principals should come out and talk to Kenyans. We need to hear their voice in this matter,” he said.
He maintained that the violence was gang related and should not be branded as religious or tribal.
“This calls for a security clampdown and the security forces must come out and not entertain this madness,” he said.
Kibunjia also highlighted the need to provide a platform for people in Garissa and Eastleigh to ventilate their grievances.
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