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Anxiety as murders rise in Kisii over land disputes

Details

Published on Wednesday, 15 December 2010 00:53

The spate of murders related to land conflicts in Kisii region has reached crisis proportions alarming both residents and security officials.

Government’s inability to curb the menace is worrying leaders in the region even as security officials lay the blame on the public saying they are unco-operative.

For instance, over 30 murders have been reported in Gucha District alone in the past one month. Many more deaths have been reported in other districts in the region recently, and most of them relate to land disputes.

Ironically, most of them remain unresolved following failure by local residents to identify the suspects or apathy in the police force.

The case of Mocheche Maroma who lost his wife of 10 years last month illustrates the agony families go through, as the crimes soar.

Mrs Jackline Kerubo Mocheche, 39, had left her Gionseri Village home in Nyamache to attend a funeral at Riokibeni village, 15 kilometres away.

In the evening at around 6.30pm, she called her husband Mocheche Maroma saying she was at a nearby junction and asked him to come for her as it was getting dark.

Maroma, accompanied by his son, walked along the footpath leading to their home hoping to meet his wife along the way.

A short while later along the footpath, he heard some cries followed by silence. He met some boys who told him somebody had been killed. His heart raced as he hurried ahead.

It emerged the woman who was lying dead was his wife.She had been beheaded in cold blood leaving behind a young family. Witnesses who declined to be identified said the deceased had been in the company of three women when she alighted from a matatu at the junction, but the others took different routes.

Others claimed they had seen three men carrying machetes fleeing the scene.

When the CCI team visited the home, family members were hesitant to divulge information regarding the murder citing threats to their lives.

However, through interviews with relatives, it emerged the deceased was embroiled in a long-standing dispute over a piece of land owned by another relative.

They alleged that a relative may have hired the killers to silence Kerubo and serve as a warning to other family members involved in the dispute.

Mrs Mocheche is the latest victim of a series of murders whose motive may be linked to land disputes in Kisii and Nyamira counties.

Two weeks earlier, Wycliffe Ongeri Kerongo, a tout, was beheaded by unknown people as he walked home at 7.30 pm. His younger brother John Mocha came across his body along a footpath 30 metres from their home. The tout had also been beheaded like Kerubo.

A woman allegedly claimed she had seen three young men flee from the scene of crime carrying machetes.

"We heard it was a group of four that attacked my son. One of them hails from our village and he disappeared from the village after the murder, but he was seen in Nakuru," says Abel Onyiego, 60, the deceased’s father.

The manner of the beheadings bears the hallmark of the dreaded Sungu Sungu vigilante group that operates in parts of Kisii and Nyamira counties.

Victims of the gang have their heads severed. Locals who spoke to CCI on condition of anonymity suspect some members of the gang are hired to murder people at a fee ranging between Sh15,000 to Sh30,000.

However, Gucha DCIO Hezron Mudho dismissed these claims as rumours.

"What baffles police is that somebody is killed at 6.30pm near homesteads, but nobody is willing to come forward and record statements that can help us arrest the assailants. Claims that vigilante members commit the murders are rumours," says Mudho.

Police blame the public for not volunteering information, but area leaders refute the claims. "The current spate of murders in Gucha is worrying. Police can’t blame locals for failing to avail information. Police should first assure locals that they will use the information to apprehend perpetrators and that it will not be prejudicial to their own security," says Bobasi MP and Public Works Minister Chris Obure.

Obure says two chiefs had been beheaded as they walked home in his constituency in the last two years and so wananchi had reason to fear.

"If a chief is killed and his killers are not brought to book, how about ordinary citizens? It is not fair to blame the entire community," he says.

The minister says land is a problem as it is diminishing rapidly compared to the rising population. "Land in Kisii has been intensely sub-divided. It is a time bomb waiting to explode. If we do not provide alternatives and invest in education, crime will soar," says Obure.

Gucha OCPD Richard Ng’etich agrees Kisii region witnesses many murders mainly due to land disputes. "We witness many murders where sons kill their fathers or widows and orphans are sent away by relatives. Sometimes people are framed as witches yet it is land that is the cause," notes Ng’etich.

He adds the problem is rife in polygamous families and that all children want a piece of ancestral land however small it is.

"These disputes are taken to land tribunals, but some parties resort to murder when they feel the decision didn’t favour them," adds Ngetich. However, Naftal Moriango, an elder who has participated in many land tribunals in Nyamache, says their decisions are fair and those who are dissatisfied are referred to courts.

"We handle many cases especially where some people want to take a title deed away from an individual and where children turn against their parents," says Moriango.

In Nyamache District, a series of murders including that of provincial administrators, remain unresolved despite endless assurances by police.

In another incident on November 5, Mrs Leonida Mogaka Nyariki was hacked to death allegedly over a protracted land dispute at her house at Chindwani village in Kisii Central District.

Blood-stained boots suspected to belong to a relative were recovered at his house the following day. The deceased was embroiled in a tussle over a piece of land with a relative and the matter was being handled at the Keumbu DO’s office.

Ignored warnings

During her burial, Nyamagwa Catholic Parish priest Father Christopher Oira condemned the Government for failing to act on death threat reports made by the woman. "The deceased had reported to Nyamware Sub Location Assistant Chief and Keumbu DO of the death threats. The DO was handling the land dispute so he was aware, but they dismissed her. Now she is dead," said Fr Oira.

"Land disputes are a historical issue in Kisii. In the past, elders used to resolve them, but today they are no longer respected. Their resolutions are hardly taken seriously by parties in a dispute and this often is the cause of murders," says Nyamache DC Stanley Too.

He adds: "A dispute like when animals stray into a neighbour’s farm can fester if not well handled and reach disastrous levels."

The DC says the land disputes arise because most locals usually don’t file for succession despite subdividing land to sons with clear demarcation.

"In many families the title deed is still in the name of the original owners many years after their death. It would be easy to avoid domestic disputes if they filed for succession, but probably the cost is prohibitive," he adds.Gucha District Probation Officer Zachary Maroko says cases of crime due to land disputes are common in Nyamache and Gucha districts. "In most cases, land disputes arise due to rows of boundaries, inheritance and succession. It is common where a parent dies intestate. Some of the crimes are also due to retaliation," says Maroko.

Local leaders agree that high illiteracy levels are a contributing factor to the land disputes."When children drop out of school or fail to secure training after school, they turn to the little land available and when parents decline to sub-divide the land, they are assaulted and even killed by their children," says Bomachoge MP Simeon Ogari.