North Eastern regional commissioner John Otieno speaking to the press in Wajir town/STEPHEN ASTARIKO.
Northeastern Regional Commissioner John Otieno has moved to calm tensions surrounding the planned construction of a Multi-Agency Security Centre in the Tiitu area along the volatile Marsabit-Wajir border.
He assured residents that the project has been temporarily halted to pave the way for dialogue between the affected communities and leaders.
Speaking to journalists in Wajir town on Friday, the Regional Commissioner dismissed claims that the government was forcefully pushing ahead with the project amid an ongoing border dispute between communities from Marsabit County and Wajir County.
Otieno said the government suspended construction on April 22 to create room for consultations and consensus-building between residents and leaders from both sides of the border.
“As a responsible government that is taking care of the interests of its citizens, we deemed it important to set up a multi-agency centre there so that we can manage the situation in the area. Unfortunately, when the multi-agency team settled on the area where the centre would be established, concerns emerged from residents of Marsabit,” said the RC.
“It is for this reason that the construction was immediately halted so that we can have more discussions on the same and agree with those from the eastern side on exactly where the centre can be established,” he added.
The halted multi-agency security centrr at Marsabit-Wajir border./STEPHEN ASTARIKO
The halted multi-agency security centrr at Marsabit-Wajir border./STEPHEN ASTARIKO
The proposed security facility has triggered protests for the better part of the week, with angry residents blocking transport and disrupting business activities at the busy Makutano junction, where motorists were reportedly stranded for hours.
Tensions escalated further following the detention earlier this week of former Golole Chief Dabassa Dambi and elder Guracha Dambala, a move that sparked outrage among local residents, professionals, youth groups, and opinion leaders who claimed the arrests reflected a worrying pattern in the handling of the dispute.
The Regional Commissioner defended the government’s decision to establish the security centre, saying it was informed by growing insecurity along the Ethiopia-Moyale-Basir-Arbajan-Isiolo corridor, which authorities have identified as a major route for transnational organised crime.
According to Otieno, the frontier region has increasingly become vulnerable to activities such as drug trafficking, the proliferation of illegal firearms, human trafficking, smuggling, kidnappings, and other criminal syndicates.
He appealed for calm among residents from both counties and urged leaders and members of the public to refrain from spreading misinformation that construction was still ongoing.
“The exercise was stopped at the window level and no further works are currently taking place until a consensus is reached,” he stated
