When elders speak, their wisdom must guide reform, not merely soothe conflict.
- Isiolo County is facing a deep governance crisis - with alleged constitutional violations, citizen rights abuses, and a breakdown in institutional order.
- Elders have spoken out - not to mediate, but to raise a call for decisive state action and the restoration of the true spirit of devolution.
- Public trust is eroding fast - as residents take security into their own hands and fear becomes a daily reality for many.
- This is not just about Isiolo - but a warning to the entire nation: when elders speak with moral clarity, their wisdom must guide reform.
In our tradition, an elder’s silence can be louder than many speeches. Elders listen longer than others speak not out of indifference, but because their words must carry the weight of restraint, responsibility, and truth.
Today, Isiolo County faces a multifaceted crisis that transcends conventional disputes. It is bigger than political brinkmanship. It runs deeper than entrenched financial interests. It involves criminal infiltration, constitutional violations, the careless abuse of citizen rights with impunity and is heading toward a total governance collapse. At stake is the very soul of our dear devolution.
As elders, we are done with it. We do not seek power we are its custodians. We safeguard its meaning. Elders do not mediate to justify criminality or entertain constitutional betrayal. These matters are far beyond the reach of community arbitration rules. They belong to formal state power. Elders raise their voices not in anger, but with moral clarity.
When elders call on the Government, state functionaries must be decisive. The matter requires serious action. The state must exercise its legitimate constitutional mandate and respond. We have heard the elders of Isiolo come together to ask the President: please rescue the governance in crisis and restore devolution in Isiolo.We trust the President is still reflecting on the matter. There are also social media rumours about investigations.
Unless urgent corrective measures are taken to dismantle the impunity in Isiolo, the consequences may be far-reaching for our country and devolution. We hear citizens have taken over security duties at the County Assembly of Isiolo in defiance of perceived state silence or state-backed interference. Women whisper warnings to each other to carry knives for their own safety when venturing into town. Public trust in the promise of devolution is eroding fast.
As elders who love peace and respect law and order, our solidarity is not confined to the Isiolo crisis alone. This is a message to all people of goodwill, to citizens of pastoralist counties, and to the people of our Republic: when elders speak, let their wisdom guide reform not merely soothe conflict.
Isiolo may be a small county, but its crisis and failure will resonate across borders and undermine public faith in the promise of devolution. This is to alert the people of Kenya and the captain, H.E. Dr. William Ruto, CGH that there is a serious breach on the ground. It is serious. It looks like something has detached from one wing of the plane climbing to cruising level.
Isiolo is vital. Its leadership may include blue-eyed boys and girls whose mistakes and offenses are often overlooked. It is a county where goons are hired to heckle the Head of State and it is treated as normal. But the current crisis is spiraling into constitutional disorder. Urgent measures must be taken to re-establish governance equilibrium, restore public trust in state functions, and demonstrate that public and state officers can be held accountable when they jeopardize citizen safety and public property.
Isiolo must get back on track and be rescued from the spiral of collapsing institutional integrity and administrative capture which is now on full display.