West Pokot County To Host International Day Of Peace

By Benson Aswani,

West Pokot County is set to host the International Day of Peace celebration that is slated on Saturday 21st September.

The theme of this year’s celebration is, “Cultivating a Culture of Peace”.

Speaking after a meeting with various stakeholders, the Deputy Director of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) Kilian Nyambu said that West Pokot County was chosen to host the event due to the efforts of the local leaders to restore peace despite the hostility in previous years.

“West Pokot County is one of the counties in the North Rift region that has experienced a lack of security for a long time. But today, the county is peaceful due to the efforts of the leaders. That is why we made it a host of this celebration,” said Mr. Nyambu

Mr. Nyambu further said that the aim of celebrating the International Day of Peace in West Pokot County is to change the perception that has existed for many years concerning its security status.

“We also want to change the perception that West Pokot is a hostile county. We all know that we no longer report insecurity cases in this county but just a few places in the border areas,” he said.

At the same time, Mr. Nyambu said that West Pokot County will be crowned during the celebration, being one of the few counties that have adopted a peace policy.

“West Pokot is among the few counties that have adopted a peace policy. We will also use the Day of Peace celebration to crown it for this milestone,” he added.

Speaking on behalf of the religious leaders, the National Council of Churches in Kenya (NCCK) West Pokot branch Moses Long’iro, expressed the need for cooperation among stakeholders to ensure peace is maintained in the county.

“I call upon all stakeholders to work together with religious leaders in preaching the message of peace among our people, especially in remote areas,” said Mr. Long’iro.