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Border Violence Reduces Vibrant Trading Centre to an Empty Shell
- Details
- Published on Friday, 15 February 2008 18:21
A man whose shed was reduced to ashes at Chepilat trading centre in a fight between local communities searches for valuables. Armed militia raided the centre a week ago and reduced it to rubble. It now resembles cities in war-torn countries such as Kabul in Afghanistan or most of Baghdad in Iraq.
It was one of the fastest growing centres on the Kisii-Nairobi road but what is now left of it is a shell. Plumes of smoke rose from smouldering homesteads, schools, posho mills, shops and kiosks.
Charred bricks, iron sheets and beams were still smouldering when journalists visited at the weekend. The town's electricity supply was disrupted after the raiders destroyed and burnt a power transformer. Luckily, the fire did not spread to a Kenya Power and Lighting Company sub-station in the town.
Arrows and machetes
But at the weekend, the power firm restored power to the town as residents came to terms with the destruction of their livelihoods.
Chepilat is inhabited mainly by the Kisii and Kipsigis communities.
The attackers were armed with bows and arrows, machetes, clubs, sticks, spears and swords. They also carried petrol, which they doused on buildings before setting them ablaze.
The militia looted, destroyed and torched shops and houses belonging to one of the communities.
The marauding youths struck without warning and in a matter of minutes, nearly the whole town was on fire.
However, quick intervention by security chiefs from the two districts saved the situation from deteriorating further. But residents accuse police of lukewarm response when they sent the distress call.
Shops, bars, chemists, and homes were broken into and property worth millions of shillings destroyed or set ablaze.
Arsonists also burned a private school belonging to a son of former Kipsigis county council chairman Meshack Rono. St Ann Academy with more than 600 pupils and owned by Mr Wesley Kirui, was razed in the violence. Mr Kirui's posho mill and three houses at the centre were also reduced to ashes. He estimated the damage at Sh1.3 million.
Elimu Academy, owned by former assistant minister David Kombo, was also not spared. The gang reduced the school, which he established 12 years ago, to ruins. Luckily he had evacuated the 300 pupils.
"I was warned of the impending attack and I had to withdraw the pupils to safety," says the former MP.
He said he lost property close to Sh20 million. "I was not making any meaningful profits from the school. I established it to keep me occupied."
Looted clean
Mr Bethwel Chweya lost everything when his chemist was looted clean. He had invested hundreds of thousands of shillings in the business.
Some residents suspected the violence might have been sparked by the killing of Ainamoi MP David Kimutai Too, who was gunned down by a traffic police officer at West Indies Estate in Eldoret Town. "They claimed they were avenging the killing of the MP. But surely, I'm not the one who killed the MP," said a sobbing man who was collecting debris from his ruined structure.
"This is where I used to earn a living from. How will my family survive now?.?" Sporadic incidents of cattle rustling were identified as the main cause of the attacks during two peace meetings at Nyagacho in Borabu and Mogoywek in Sotik. Both communities accused each other of perpetrating cattle rustling.
"The underlying issue here is cattle rustling. We are not allowed to pursue the cows past Monire hill," said a Sotik resident. Rift Valley provincial commissioner Hassan Noor said police stations would be established on the troubled border and more security personnel deployed.
Another meeting convened by Nyanza PC Paul Olando at Chepilat ended in disarray after Buret MP Franklin Bett demanded that the main Kisii-Kericho highway be the boundary of the two affected communities.
Elders and youths will also meet respective district security committees in a bid to end the violence. Mr Andrew Magara, a market centre resident, observed: "We have lived harmoniously in this area for long. We are wondering why they are turning against us."
"This mayhem was planned and it only coincided with the unfortunate killing of the MP," said another resident who declined to be named. The arsonists and raiders claimed they wanted to "reclaim their land" from foreigners.
"The fighting is not about the disputed elections. We want to reclaim our land. Some of the people who bought land from us are selling illicit brews to our children, hence destroying their future," said a Chepilat resident.
Pathetic and absurd
Four people were shot dead by the police and 12 others admitted to Kaplong mission hospital with gun shot injuries during the raid.
Sotik MP Lorna Laboso and her Bomet counterpart Kipkalya Kones alongside Sotik district commissioner Humphrey Nakitare toured the affected areas moments after the violence erupted and appealed for calm.
"The police are killing people, right left and centre instead of protecting them and their lives and property," Ms Laboso said. North Mugirango Borabu MP Wilfred Ombui condemned the violence and called for deployment of GSU on the border.
His neighbour from Bobasi, Mr Chris Obure, accused security teams from the two districts of reluctance to stem the violence. "I have never seen destruction like this in a town I knew. Its pathetic and absurd," said Mr Obure.
MPs James Gesami (West Mugirango), Omingo Magara (South Mugirango) and Robert Monda (Nyaribari Chache) also toured the town with the security team.
Resident David Rioba said they were ready to donate a plot for the construction of a GSU camp and a police station.
The residents also want the Anti-Stock Theft Unit camp, which had been moved from Memisi rebuilt. "Stock theft from either side must be stopped," said another resident, Mr Charles Maisiba.
