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General Service Unit Sent to Kisii As Chiefs Killed, Houses Burnt
Then vengeful area residents set eleven houses of suspected members of the hit squad on fire, reducing a storey building and other houses to rabble.
And in a swift response to curb the rising insecurity in the area, the Government deployed the paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU) in the division in the afternoon.
The Nyanza Deputy Provincial Commissioner, Mr Moses Wandiema, the Kisii District Commissioner, Mr Abdullahi Leloon, and top security officers confirmed they were holding six suspects over the killing of the Chief and the Assistant Chief.
Chief Joseph Andrew Ombasa Mabete of Bomorenda Location was hacked to death by the assailants who stormed his home at around 2.00 am.
The Bokeire Assistant Chief Benson Baharini was shot to death in his house shortly after midnight.
Enraged Suneka residents claimed that the killers of the two chiefs must have been hit men colluding with the criminals who are being hunted down in the area.
They also demanded that the Government mounts a major offensive against the roving criminals who have been terrorising the area.
The killers are suspected to have been on a mission of revenge against the two administrators following recent incidents in which villagers lynched seven suspected criminals in their areas of jurisdiction.
The killing of the two chiefs came only a week after three MPs from Kisii condemned the villagers for lynching the suspected criminals, terming the victims innocent.
And the Nyanza and Kisii security teams led by Wandiema and Leloon warned residents of Suneka against taking the law into their hands by staging violent revenge against suspects.
However, Wandiema and Leloon maintained that the Government is also going to get tough against the suspected hit men who killed the chiefs.
The primary school teacher identified as Martin Ochengo died on the way to Kisii District Hospital after he was flushed out of a Nissan matatu by the angry villagers and beaten senseless.
Those who were being detained by police yesterday included Bogiakumu ward Councillor Livingstone Omoke, whose home at Mosando Village was also set ablaze by the angry residents.
Property worth hundreds of thousands of shillings was also destroyed.
Former Wanjare Location Chief Henry Mokua Nyaronge, who is said to have been interdicted over alleged indiscipline, former journalist Peter Makori, roving photographer Kepher Nyachae and one Christopher Machabe were also being held at the Kisii Police Station.
A contingent of GSU personnel from Trans Mara District was called in to beef up the security operations as the entire division remained dazed in shock and rage at the tragic violence being visited on them.
There was drama at one point when a group of youth apprehended the former Chief near Riana trading centre on the Suneka-Asumbi- Homa Bay road. He was thought to be escaping upon sensing that the irate villagers were looking for him.
Security personnel found clothes blood-stained clothes in the house of one of the suspects being held together with other paraphernalia. They were confiscated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers.
Wandiema and Leloon reiterated that the Government will not sit and watch the on-going violence in Suneka, saying that both the criminals, the killers of the chiefs and those who were perpetrating lawlessness will be brought to book.
Meanwhile, Ford People MPs, led by party leader Mr Simeon Nyachae, charged that criminals have taken over the running of the country.
Nyachae held a news conference at Parliament Buildings as the House started debate on the Office of the President, under which the police docket falls.
Nyachae, flanked by 11 MPs, told the Government to act fast and curb insecurity.
"In some parts of the country, law and order has broken down. These criminals are not from the sky, they live here with us," said Nyachae.
He accused the police of working in cahoots with thugs to terrorise Kenyans and warned that insecurity would breed anarchy.
Nyachae recalled a recent incident where a chief and an assistant chief were killed in Bonchari for calling on the people to report thugs to the police.
He wondered who was safe when thugs kill representatives of the Government.
Nyachae said insecurity will affect the economic recovery programme put in place by the Government.
"We feel that appropriate measures should be taken by the Government to contain the situation which has spiralled to rural areas," the MP said.
He said thugs are ruling rural areas and noted that some centres close as early as 4.00 pm in fear of criminals.
"It never used to happen like this before. It is a country-wide problem which the Government must address. It is happening in Nyeri, Nairobi, and the Nakuru highway," added Nyachae.
He said that currently the confidence of the public in the Police Force is at rock bottom and that wananchi are threatening to lynch suspected thugs.
"The question is that are the police having a link with the thugs? We need to have the police play a genuine role. How can the public capture thugs and the police can't?" asked Nyachae.
The MPs who accompanied Nyachae were Mr Jimmy Angwenyi, Mr Zebedeo Opore, Mr Omingo Magara, Mr Henry Obwocha, Mr Mwandawiro Mghanga, Dr Hezron Manduku, Mr Kiema Kilonzo, Mr Joel Onyancha, Mr Stephen Manoti and Mr Godfrey Masanya.
At 5.30pm, the DC confirmed that they had apprehended a seventh suspect whom they identified as youngster called Kins Marando, and also termed the sixth suspect (Machabe) as a quack pharmacist.
Over 500 youths, elderly men and women later staged a demonstration in Suneka town yesterday afternoon while condemning the brutal murder of the two chiefs.
They demanded stern action against criminals and other suspicious people in Suneka town.
The DC and Wandiema said Suneka Division will be put under the security operations of both the GSU, regular and Administration Police until calm returns to the area.
