Games and Sports

Caught between a rock and a hard place

For a Gusiiland resident working on a tea farm in Kericho district, fleeing from the recent election-related violence was an escape from the jaws of death. “I hid in a tea plantation, but the attackers flushed me out using dogs,” recalls a tea picker.

Evicted tea plantations workers wait for transport in Kericho town to take them to Kisii town. Photo/FILE

The man who is camping at Kisii Anglican church with other displaced families, says he had lived in Kericho for a decade.

Another man who has also taken refuge at the church, says his neighbours identified him to raiders.

“I was in bed when I heard my neighbour tell the youths that I was a Kisii,” he says. “They took everything from my house and told me to go to home for allegedly voting for President Kibaki.”

A woman at the camp says she was raped by six men. “They dragged me into a tea plantation and raped me,” she adds. “They did not use protection and I’m worried that I may have contracted diseases because I went to hospital late.”

“We were being evicted because they considered us PNU sympathisers even if others voted for ODM,” says Mr Daniel Kimori who was kicked out of Uasin Gishu district.

Several other displaced families are camping at Ikonge primary school in Nyamira district.

“When they came to my house, they asked me why we attacked ODM Pentagon member William Ruto in South Mugirango before they ordered me to disappear. They took away all my property and torched my house,” says another evacuee, Mr Ken Matara..

Mr Ruto was injured by youths reported to members of the outlawed Chinkororo militia at a meeting last year attended by former Roads minister Simeon Nyachae.

“Why should we be targeted just because two men are fighting for the presidency? I’m very saddened and will never participate in an electoral process,” says a man who was evicted from his Kisii North farm in Trans Nzoia district.

He had sold all his property in Kisii before moving to Kitale where he bought a 10-acre farm. And even though he would like to return the farm, he fears for his security. “We were warned not to return,” he says.

Members of other communities who were evicted from other regions have also found a safe haven in Kisii town.  Says Ms Nancy Wairimu, who as a businesswoman in Kisumu: “I had a vibrant business which was brought to its knees by looters,” she recalls. “But thank God we were not killed.”

Kisii Catholic diocese vicar-general Joseph Obanyi says he has been sheltering thousands of displaced people since the violence erupted.  “This has become a transit point,” he adds. “All those evicted come to shelter here before they are helped to travel to their respective homes.”

District commissioner Njoroge Ndirangu praises the hospitality of the Kisii town residents. “I’m overwhelmed by the support they have offered the victims of violence,” he says. But the number of displaced families camping at Ikonge has been declining of late. Some have been given transport to their homes, says a volunteer, Ms Jackline Mosinya. But more families are expected from Kericho and Buret districts as violence escalates.

The Kisii have been caught between a rock and hard place in the current chaos. And this is contrary to the perception that that the violence targets or involves only the so-called big communities. While ODM supporters accuse the Kisii of voting for President Kibaki, their PNU counterparts blame them for supporting Mr Odinga.

Thousands of Kisiis have been kicked out of Kitale, Kisumu, Migori, Awendo, Rongo, Homa Bay, Sondu, Buret, Kericho Town, Konoin, Kipkelion, Sotik, Ainamoi and Kuresoi. Others were uprooted from their homes in Eldoret town, Burnt Forest and Narok. Quite a number of Kisiis had been working at the Kericho tea estates such as Jamji, Kapkwen, Finlay and Tagabi. People who torched their houses in the North Rift accused them of voting against Mr Odinga.

According to statistics,  there are about 40,000 Kisii registered voters in Saboti, Kwanza and Cherangany constituencies. Their total population the three areas is estimated at 150,000, most of them having bought land and settled there.

It is said that those whose houses were torched in the cosmopolitan Cherangany were accused of supporting Agriculture minister Kipruto Kirwa, who eventually lost the seat. However, other reports attribute the violence that rocked the area to a long-standing land dispute. Kisiis dominate Goseta, Nyabomo, Kesogon, Chisare and Gesarate farms in the larger Trans Nzoia district. They have also settled in areas such as Aruba, Munyaka, Kapsara, Moi’s Bridge  and Endebess.

A chunk of members from the community  were also evicted from Nandi Hills where they  have settled.

In Kwanza, the community’s voting bloc has benefited leaders such as the current MP, Dr Noah Wekesa. Those living at Nyabomo, Naisambu and Kibomet also backed Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa.

Trans-Nzoia East district commissioner Seif Matata, in whose jurisdiction Geta farm lies, says he will liaise with his Trans-Nzoia West colleague, Mr Francis Mutie, to investigate the root cause of the attacks.

“We are seriously trying to investigate the cause of the attacks since all the people have been living peacefully at Geta, which is popularly known as North Kisii.”

At a press conference this week, MPs from the region said their people were being targeted in ODM zones, and asked their colleagues to stop inciting various groups against one another.

Mr Omingo Magara, Mr Chris Obure and Dr George Monda accused politicians beaten in the polls of inciting violence.

Most deaths and violence were perpetrated by police officers from PNU-friendly communities, they claimed. They also complained that the Government had barred them from visiting the displaced families.

Mr Magara argues that voting patterns should not be used to discriminate against any community.  “People from the region have right to vote whichever way they did; it’s their democratic right,” he says.