The stage is now set for the Pamoja Conference on national cohesion and integration. The 3-day conference which is the first of its kind in the country’s recent history, begins tomorrow ahead of Tuesday’s key note address by president Uhuru Kenyatta. The event will bring together at least 300 delegates among them heads of institutions, key community leaders, cohesion experts and scholars and politicians across the political divide are expected to attend. Participants at the conference will among other things focus on how to dialogue and achieve meaningful national cohesion and integration among various ethnic communities in the country. Speaking when he toured the venue at Safari park hotel, Pamoja Conference lead organizer and media expert Mburugu Gikunda expressed optimism that the meeting will achieve its objective. He added that the best way to achieve sustainable cohesion is through dialogue and open conversation that are inclusive and respect community level and national engagement. “ This event definitely presents an opportunity where grassroot players meet national players”, he said. The conference is expected to end on Wednesday with a public lecture to be delivered by the Deputy president William Ruto at the University of Nairobi.
The Pamoja conference on national cohesion and integration is a culmination of sustained and candid intra and inter community dialogue forums among various communities in the country. The forums dubed Pamoja Initiative were initiated six years ago by the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) and her partners. The objective is to provide communities with safe spaces to openly dialogue and together confront issues that hitherto have divide them along tribal and political lines. The Pamoja conference is a partnership of the NCCK, the Inter Religious Council of Kenya (IRCK,) the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), and the Danish embassy in Kenya.
