Tana River, KENYA:Tana River Governor Dhadho Godhana has maintained his stance that Somali refugees should go back home to rebuild Somalia.
This is despite the backlash he has received from Members of the public and Members of the county assembly in his own county.
Tana River County assembly members in a meeting accused the governor of ethnic profiling considering his county has a sizeable population of Kenyan Somali’s.
Led by Kinakomba ward rep Hon. Sammy Malibe last weekend, the MCA’s said that this was not the first time the governor was making such remarks which they termed as high risk due to the county’s history in ethnic clashes.
” We are aware that the governor has a history of using strong remarks as was the case when he was a member of the national assembly representing Galole constituency. Securing the borders of the country is a function of the national government and so the governor should familiarize himself with his mandates as enshrined in the constitution and other legislation and stop usurping roles of other government entities.” Hon Sammy Malibe said.
The MCAs further called for reinforcement of police officers in the county to avert a situation where the remarks would spark ethnic clashes.
However, Godhana who had made the remarks during a bursary check handing over ceremony in Hola town last week in the wake of the Dusit D2 attack maintained that Somali refugees had to go back.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Godhana said that he was celebrating the peace in Somalia and the only way to know Somalia was peaceful is by having residents rebuild the country.
“I’m supporting the continued efforts of bringing peace in Somalia because if it won’t proceed, maybe the war might affect us. It is what the president is talking about how youths have been recruited into terrorist groups and it is only from Somalia,” he said.
Mr. Godhana said that Somalia has passed all four peace processes like peacemaking, peace enforcement, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding saying Somalia is returning to its normalcy.
Mr. Godhana said that he was supporting the continuity of peacemaking efforts in Somalia saying that the war in the neighboring country had brought in refugees and using Kenyan youths in terror groups.
