A 68-year-old man from the Sengwer Minority Group is travelling from West Pokot County to state house in Nairobi to seek an audience with President Uhuru Kenyatta to demand for recognition of minority groups in Kenya.
Clad in orange-colored creative attires with a whisky, a walking stick, a hat with words revealing his identity tied with a red piece of cloth to signify the sufferings of minority groups, carrying President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga’s photos and Kenya’s flag colours, Mr. Dickson Kipkemoi Rotich started his journey on Monday.
The old man who attracted a huge crowd in Makutano Township started walking on foot from his Talau home to Kapenguria then to Kitale where he will board a bus heading to Nairobi with high hopes of meeting the head of state to present to him his grievances. “I have decided to go to Nairobi because as a Sengwer community we have suffered,” said Rotich. The old man claimed that he requested to meet President Kenyatta on his Facebook account. The Sengwer community has a population of more than fifty thousand people in West County.
He decried the discrimination in job employment and public appointments accusing both the County and national governments of ignoring them, hence the community is lagging behind in terms of development. He said that the attempts by the group to voice their concern have been unsuccessful because a section of political brokers interfere with the process.
Rotich lamented that the ethnic groups of Sengwer, Awei, Yaaku, Ogiek, Ilchamus, Endosis, Bongomek and Elmolo have been sidelined in development, employment, appointments and nomination in leadership roles and positions. He called on the government to increase the number of ethnic groups to 53 in the country. He also called on President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga to use the handshake to uplift and incorporate all communities in the Country. He also promised to give out a report after the Nairobi Tour.