It is no longer news that Kerio Valley is a region under siege – the siege of bandits that week-in-week-out terrorize locals with so much freedom – as if there is no government in existence.
For years now, this region that has so much potential has been reduced to a ‘kill zone’ with locals and the administration, as the Elgeyo Marakwet Deputy Governor Wisely Rotich puts it – “have turned to be “undertakers” handling bodies of their loved ones”.
Just days after the burial of a local teacher famously known as Mkomboti, who was ambushed and killed by bandits while on his way home after school, another three people were on Monday, May 23, 2022, killed by suspected bandits.
The three were killed in Arror and Kabetwa areas.
And with the latest wave of killings, Rotich is now challenging the Ministry of Interior to declare the Kerio Valley region a public cemetery.
“We shall never tire or stop condemning and calling out on the ministry of interior who are the ones mandated by the constitution to protect lives. The police land cruisers are now solely used to collect dead bodies of young, old, women and children sprayed by gunshots,” the Deputy Governor said.
“The police and the community have turned to be “undertakers” handling bodies of our loved ones,” he added.
For Rotich, the UDA nominee for the Elgeyo Marakwet gubernatorial seat in the upcoming general election, it remains a mystery where the bandits get the confidence and the bullets to kill and maim in broad daylight and leave scot-free.
“This mystery will one day be unearthed, it’s just a matter of time,” he notes.
But under the current situation, the deputy county boss says it’s now everyone for himself.
He is now challenging the community to work on fully taking charge of their own security but at the same time avoid retaliatory attacks as “that only serves to aggravate the situation.”
There have been numerous calls from the local leaders asking the government to act and end the bandit menace, but all interventions have so far had no positive impact – as killings keep being reported in the region.
“The buck stops at the President’s doorstep. He has abdicated his duty to protect us. Never in my life have I seen such barbaric and heartless officials heading the security Docket in this country. Lightning will not strike the same tree twice,” Rotich says in optimism.
