Rights groups in Siaya County have demanded that Governor Cornel Rasanga retract his remarks on denial of health services to residents with no national identification cards.
They claim the utterances made on January 29 amounted to threatening the lives of the residents, and that the county chief must apologize.
In a statement through their consortium Civil Society Organization (CSOs)s Working Group, they argued that general elections are opportunities for citizens to make choices about the changes they desire to see in their communities, and not a means for purnishment.
The organizations included; Kelin, CIAG-Kenya, Okok Shida CBO, KEFEADO, VSO, YWCA Kenya, Tembea among others.
In the statement signed on their behalf by Chris Cwalla, the Director of CIAG-Kenya, they termed Rasanga’s remarks as a which violates the residents’ constitutional right to health with a ripple effect to other rights.
Rasanga had indicated that his office would deploy extra ordinary measures to catalyze the voter registration including the denial of services to people without national Identity (ID) cards and voter cards in both public and private healthcare centers.
“To make matters worse, threatening to withhold access to healthcare in the midst of a global pandemic is descriptive of inhumane leadership,” the CSOs argued in the statement.
The statement added; “As civil society organizations representing the voices of community members in Siaya County, we urge the following entities to urgently investigate his remarks and take appropriate action: National Cohesion, and Integration Commission, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, and Orange Democratic Movement Party.”
