President William Ruto is today expected to grace the Turkana Tourism and Cultural Festival at the Ekalees Cultural Center.
The ceremony brings together members of the Ateker community that stretches across Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
Turkana Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai said the festival is meant to promote peaceful coexistence among the Ateker communities.
The Ateker communities include Turkana, Iteso of Kenya, Karamoja, Jie of Uganda and Topsa of South Sudan and Nyangatom, Merile from Ethiopia
“The Turkana Tourism and Cultural festival is meant to foster peaceful coexistence among the communities within the counties and across neighbouring countries including Uganda, Ethiopia and South Sudan,” he said.
Lomorukai says the event will host local indigenous communities to promote peace, cultural exchange and tourism.
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition leader Raila Odinga is also expected to grace the event on Friday.
According to a statement from the ODM Party’s director of communications, Philip Etale, Odinga is scheduled to give a keynote address on devolution on Friday, discussing its benefits and why it should be expanded to allow for more development in the devolved units.
The annual festival, now in its seventh year, begins on Thursday to showcase Turkana culture and portray Turkana as the cradle of mankind.
Odinga opened the first Tobong’u Lore in 2014.
The Turkana population is estimated to be 1,016,174, or 2.14 percent of the Kenyan population, according to the 2019 census.
It is the third-largest Nilotic ethnic group in Kenya, after the Kalenjin and the Luo, and the tenth-largest ethnicity in Kenya.
