The National Council of Elders have lauded the decision by Chief Justice David Maraga to set up special courts that will address election petitions.
Speaking to Journalists in Isiolo after a consultative meeting at the Al Falah Islamic Center, the Kenya National Council of Elders Chairperson Phares Ruteere said that the move will ensure that election petition cases across the country will now be resolved within a reasonable time since the courts will be sitting until late hours and even on weekends. He said that the decision was commendable since Kenyans will not be kept at bay for long, without knowing the outcome of their cases.
Mr Ruteere called upon all those aggrieved by the election outcome to resort to the special courts and asked members of the public to respect and uphold the decisions made by the courts in order to allow the country to move forward.
He said that elders across the country have played their role of reaching out to the youthful members of the community to observe peace, adding that only a few cases of lawlessness were reported in some areas after announcement of the poll results.
He asked elders throughout the country to hold meetings such as the one in Isiolo in order to access the situation and come up with strategies of fixing any issues that may be affecting their particular regions.
Mr Ruteere announced that similar meetings were currently being held in Nakuru, Mombasa and Kajiado adding that those meetings will be followed up by a mammoth rally by elders from all parts of the country to be held either in Isiolo, Nanyuki or Naivasha to allow those from far flung areas to attend. The rally will be used to preach peace with the participants taking the message to their respective counties.