The residents of Changara area that are administratively governed by Bungoma County but politically inclined to Busia have asked the government to investigate and take action against the authors of leaflets circulating in the area.
The leaflets are warning some residents of dire consequences for advocating for the transfer of Changara back to Bungoma both politically and administratively.
The emotive boundary issue that has rekindled old memories of suspicion and mistrust between the Teso and Bukusu communities may explode and lead to clashes if not arrested on time
Speaking to www.westfm.on behalf of the Teso community Mr. Livingstone Otwane a retired teacher said the boundary dispute between the Tesos who want to be in Busia County and Bukusu’s who wished to remain in Bungoma should be resolved once and for all.
Otwane said that the boundary dispute started way back in 1964 when politicians from both sides fought over the boundary.
The colonial government gazetted Changara to be in Bungoma under North Malakisi location which is the present Bungoma West Sub County.
Sometime in 1987 the Teso community felt that they should belong to Busia and have their own MP to represent their views saying that Bungoma had sidelined them in job recruitment and development.
Otwane said by this time, the government formed the Nyamweya commission on 27th November 1987 that recommended that Changara be moved politically and administratively to Busia which has not been implemented.
“The reason why we went to Busia County is because most of our people who are majority in Changara were not given jobs for supporting the people of Bungoma politically’ “said Otwane
“While looking for jobs we went to Bungoma but we were rejected in job allocations we could not get jobs in Busia since our Identity cards were issued in Bungoma County” he said.
Some of the residents led by Patroba Kasete who took the petition to the senate are however comfortable being in Bungoma.
Changara borders Bungoma and Busia Counties and the feeling of changing administrative boundaries is from a few people who feel left out in either of the counties.
During voting most of the residents cross over to vote for a person from Busia putting them in a dilemma over where to get services.
The border feud took a political turn when the governor for Busia County Sospeter Ojamong’ warned that he will not accept an inch of Changara to be hived out of Busia County.
In 1998 there were skirmishes between the majority Teso’s and the Bukusu’s over the Changara border.
According to the residents, former provincial commissioner Francis Lekolol was compromised by former Sirisia MP Joseph Muliro when he paid a visit to Changara and made a verbal declaration that some parts of Changara location should remain in Bungoma while others should be governed from Busia to maintain peace.
They complained that the Mwangovya commission report was not affected even after making recommendation that Changara and other parts of North Malakisi location bordering Mt. Elgon should be moved have to Busia County but politicians from Bungoma County intimidated them and the report has never been implemented .
However other residents of Changara who are mainly Bukusu’s and Sabot’s feel that they should not be moved to Busia arguing that going to Busia for services betrays the spirit of devolution and that it is more convenient to obtain government services from Bungoma than going to Busia town which is far compared to travelling to Bungoma.
However the petitioners said that they will not be intimidated by politicians from Busia County who wanted to change the boundaries to benefit politically in the forth coming general election.
“We know the scheme of the politicians from Busia who want to take advantage of the voters to win the elections but we will not be moved to Busia,” said John Wafula a resident of Changara.
However, Maurice Bisakaya who is the Bungoma West peace coordinator said that the government should move with speed and help solve the standoff between the two worrying communities.