Taita Taveta County is set to host a landmark peace dialogue tonight, aimed at bridging generational divides and strengthening national cohesion.
The Transgenerational Conversations, led by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) in partnership with the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), will take place at the Taita Taveta Social Hall from 7:30 PM. The event, themed “Amani Kwa Ground” (Peace on the Ground), will be broadcast live on KBC Channel 1.
The forum will bring together youth, elders, women, policymakers, scholars, religious leaders, and the general public to exchange perspectives and co-create solutions to pressing issues, such as unemployment, political intolerance, and intergenerational mistrust.
Speaking ahead of the event, NCIC Deputy Director for Public Education and Engagement, Killian Nyambu, reiterated that the conversations are intentionally designed to go beyond identifying problems to developing practical, locally-driven solutions.
“‘Wise men say when people come together to speak to each other, great things happen. And in the same line, the commission is deliberately, intentionally and purposeful organizing this kind of transgenerational conversations to give an opportunity for different sectors of Kenyans, whether they are young generation, old generation, duty bearers, the recipient of government services, leaders as well as the citizens, to get an opportunity to be able to discuss pertinent issues which affect them,” he said.
“It’s not only for the purposes of finding out what is not right, but with a view to saying how they can be able to put their heads together and have a common focus to improve their welfare,” explained Nyambu.
He noted that during their engagements with Taita Taveta County residents, several recurring concerns have emerged, particularly surrounding revenue sharing, land disputes, human-wildlife conflict, and resource management.
He said residents have often questioned why they do not benefit from the revenues generated by the Tsavo East and West National Parks, which cover about 70 per cent of the county, unlike counties such as Narok and Kajiado that receive direct benefits from the Maasai Mara and Amboseli reserves.
“Why can’t they also benefit?” he asked. “These are the hard questions we have received from the citizens,”
Nyambu added that human-wildlife conflict remains a persistent issue, with wild animals occasionally straying from the parks into farms, destroying crops and threatening lives. This, he said, continues to be a significant source of tension between communities and wildlife authorities.
He also highlighted conflicts between herders and farmers, particularly as livestock from other regions encroach on local grazing areas. Additionally, he pointed to mining proceeds and land ownership as further triggers of local disputes, calling for improved resource-sharing frameworks and transparent management systems.
To address these challenges, the NCIC has organized multiple community forums and partnerships with relevant ministries and agencies to help resolve disputes through dialogue.
“As a commission, to be able to help citizens together with other concerned individuals, we have tried to organize quite a lot of engagement forums to give both parties an opportunity to hear one another. This is because we understand that if some of these things are not raised in suitable platforms and if they are not addressed appropriately, it offers a potential for conflict,” he said.
Nyambu further noted that Taita Taveta is a model county for promoting peace education through school peace clubs, known as Amani Clubs. These platforms train young people to appreciate diversity and resolve differences peacefully.
“The clubs provide an opportunity for us to start training our young people at a young age to start appreciating people. One can be able to be seeing number nine. Another person can be able to be seeing number six. And each one of them can get a platform to be able to say, Why am I seeing six and not nine? And why am I seeing nine and not six?” he explained
“Through this dialogue, through this communication, people can start to appreciate that there’s nothing bad, there’s nothing wrong for us to live in diversity. We can disagree, but the only thing which we uphold is, is disagreement, which leads to violent conflict,” he remarked.
Through such initiatives, Nyambu affirmed, the commission hopes to build a society where all generations and communities coexist peacefully, embracing unity in diversity while collaboratively addressing shared challenges.
