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MPs Protest as Clash Deaths Rise
- Details
- Published on Sunday, 22 July 2007 23:10
A day after cancelling a scheduled visit to the area, President Moi appealed to Kisii and Maasai leaders to "put out the fires" among their people.
There were calls for a parliamentary investigation into the conflict and attacks on the President for striking off his tour at the last minute.
In the latest clash between Kisii and Maasai villagers, a Mr Siriba Omweri was hacked to death inside Trans Mara district, two kilometres from Nyangusu market.
His body was mutilated by attackers and has been taken to Akemo hospital mortuary at Nyangusu.
But Transmara police chief, Mr Simom Kipkeu, claimed Mr Omweri appeared to have been murdered elsewhere and dumped in the area to stir hostility against Maasai morans.
It was the latest flare- up in land clashes between communities living on the border of the two districts, which local leaders say have been fanned by biased security intervention. Gucha leaders accused security forces patrolling the border of "the systematic killings of members of one tribe".
President Moi was to have visited the troubled border area yesterday but cancelled the tour after meeting with a faction of the Kisii political leadership at Kabarak on Sunday.
Former Finance Minister Simeon Nyachae yesterday called on Parliament to establish a Select Committee to investigate the clashes.
He accused the government of failing to provide security for communities living on the district border since the clashes started five months ago.
The Nyaribari Chache MP said it was significant the clashes were picking up ahead of next year's General Elections as happened in 1992 and 1997.
"Beyond the deployment of lean security and reluctant promises from those in charge of security, no decisive step has been taken to bring these clashes to an end. Now the Head of State would like local leaders to reach peace," Mr Nyachae said in a faxed statement.
Scores of people have been wounded in the fighting, houses burnt and property destroyed. As a result schools and shops in the border areas have been closed.
"It is hypocritical for those who have sworn to protect the lives of all Kenyans to sheepishly argue that the clashes are a local matter," said Mr Nyachae. "The problem of insecurity anywhere in the country should be addressed firmly as a national responsibility," he said.
Sunday's meeting between President Moi and selected Kisii politicians were the target of attacks by South Mugirango MP James Magara, who accused cabinet ministers Julius Sunkuli, Prof Sam Ongeri and Mr Chris Obure of doing nothing to stop the fighting.
He asked why the three ministers took a group of their supporters to the President at the height of the clashes instead of organising reconciliation meetings at the border of the two districts.
Mr Magara, speaking in Kisii town after visiting clash victims at the Tabaka mission hospital, urged President Moi to visit the area.
Like Mr Nyachae, he viewed the clashes as the beginning of politically-insigated tribal violence similar to those of 1992 and 1997.
The MP questioned the motives of "regular" visits to Kabarak by Kisii and Trans Mara leaders.
"The last time they went to Kabarak, eight people from the Kisii community were butchered by police, among them school boys. We doubt the sincerity of those visits," he said. "If police patrolling the area are impartial then how come the bullets are directed at the Kisiis alone?"
As he spoke, President Moi challenged local leaders to "put out the fires" in the troubled areas and condemned youths reported to have tried to raid an administration police camp at Nyabitinua/Kiangoi on the Gucha Trans Mara border.
Two teenagers from Gucha were shot dead at the weekend by police, who claimed they had crossed into Trans Mara to attack a police post. But relatives insist the youths had visited the area to inspect their shambas, which had not been attended to due to the clashes.
President Moi said it was foolhardy for wananchi to attack a police station knowing the officers at the post were armed.
He urged leaders to preach reconciliation and not expect outsiders to solve their constituents' problems for them.
"I can not run to put out fires in these areas when the local leaders can do it effectively," he told wananchi outside a milk factory in Nakuru.
He said he was falsely accused of instigating tribal clashes in 1992 even as he advocated peace and co-existence. "How could I have been inciting violence among the same people from who I ask for votes?"
