Peace flourishes where communities choose dialogue over division, cooperation over confrontation and shared prosperity over conflict. Across areas once affected by banditry, cattle rustling and intercommunal tensions, sport is increasingly providing common ground where communities can rebuild trust, strengthen relationships and collectively safeguard the stability achieved through sustained security and peacebuilding efforts.
This message of unity defined the 3rd Edition of Operation Maliza Uhalifu (OMU) Sports for Peace, which culminated at Tot Secondary School in Elgeyo Marakwet County. Bringing together communities from across the nine counties covered by the operation, the tournament demonstrated how sport can complement security interventions by creating opportunities for interaction, reconciliation and confidence-building.
The closing ceremony was presided over by the Deputy Army Commander, Major General John Nkoimo, and featured a 21-kilometre race, women’s volleyball and a football final between Marsabit and Turkana teams. In another symbolic encounter, a combined team drawn from participating OMU counties faced the multi-agency security team led by the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), underscoring the growing partnership between communities and security agencies.
Beyond the competition and celebration, the tournament highlighted the gains realised through the multi-agency approach under Operation Maliza Uhalifu. Coordinated security operations, community engagement and peacebuilding initiatives have contributed to containing banditry, cattle rustling and other forms of insecurity, creating an environment in which communities can resume normal activities, rebuild livelihoods and pursue socio-economic development.
Addressing participants, Major General Nkoimo commended the multi-agency security team for its contribution to the prevailing peace witnessed in recent years and applauded communities for embracing peaceful coexistence. He urged residents to preserve the gains made by strengthening unity across ethnic and county boundaries and challenged young people to become ambassadors of peace and champions of development within their communities.
He further emphasised that sustainable peace cannot be secured through security operations alone. Lasting stability, he noted, must be anchored in reconciliation, forgiveness, mutual respect and the willingness of communities to resolve differences peacefully while recognising their shared interests and aspirations.
Elgeyo Marakwet Governor, Hon. Wisley Rotich, acknowledged the contribution of the multi-agency security team towards restoring peace and stability in the region. He called for sustained collaboration among security agencies, national and county leaders, local communities and other stakeholders to consolidate the gains achieved under OMU and ensure that peace translates into lasting development.
The Commander Army Special Operations Brigade (ASOB), Brigadier Ahmed Saman, observed that peace transcends administrative and ethnic boundaries. He encouraged stakeholders to strengthen the Sports for Peace initiative and expand future editions to reach more communities, particularly young people whose participation remains critical to sustaining peace for future generations.
The 3rd Edition of OMU Sports for Peace ultimately carried a message far greater than the trophies, medals and victories recorded on the field. Every race completed, volleyball contested and football match played provided an opportunity for communities once separated by insecurity to meet as competitors, neighbours and partners in peace.
As communities and security agencies continue working side by side, sport is helping transform former fault lines into meeting points, suspicion into confidence and rivalry into cooperation. The enduring lesson from Tot is clear: when communities unite around peace, insecurity loses ground and development gains the space to take root.
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