Residents of Uasin Gishu County have explained the reason why only a few of them came out to attend the county’s Mashujaa Day event on Friday.
This year’s event was held at the Kipkaren Primary School, which, however, witnessed a low turnout as residents opted to keep off.
They have cited concerns about escalating insecurity in the area, lamenting of increasing cases of violent crimes and theft in the area.
The residents have decried increased cases of muggings, carjackings and break-ins, whose outcome has been loss of lives and property.
County Commissioner Dr. Edyson Nyale confirmed the situation, assuring the locals that security will be beefed up ahead of the Christmas festivities.
This is as residents blame the situation on drug and alcohol abuse among the youth.
Uasin Gishu is the home county of President William Ruto, who led the national chapter of the same from the Kericho Green Stadium in Kericho County.
The scenes were different there, with crowds starting to pour into the venue from as early as 1am, at some point even resulting in a stampede.
In Kericho, Ruto promised among others, an expansion of Kericho Town, saying that 1,000 acres of land have been secured for this purpose.
“I want to announce that I will come back next month because the 1,000-acre piece of land which had issues, all those issues have now been sorted by the government and now we will get a 1,000-acre piece of land for expansion, development and planning of Kericho town,” he said.