Five people have been killed in separate bandit attacks in Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, and Samburu counties.
Bandits ambushed and killed a 59-year-old man in Baringo North and two others in Marakwet East, before driving away a herd of cattle.
The man was shot as he tended to his livestock near Yatya Primary School, while the two were ambushed and fatally shot in the Liter area in East Marakwet.
The killings sparked protests in Kabarnet and Marigat towns, where locals lashed out at the government for what they term a failure to stem the tide of banditry in the area.
“It is very unfortunate that for all these years, problems of insecurities have been happening. Unfortunately, the local leaders have never been talking to each other. They were busy talking to each other through the media,” Ahmed Hussein, a community leader, said.
On the other side of the Rift at the Samburu County Referral Hospital, relatives were gathered outside the facility, trying to make sense of the killing of their kin by bandits who attacked Lolmolog village on Wednesday night.
The bandits shot and killed a man and his son, before making away with 150 cattle that was later recovered by a contingent of security officers that repulsed the bandits.
“Majangili wamevamia familia na ndugu yangu mmoja marehemu sahizi…waliingilia yeye usiku kwa nyumba wakamuua papo hapo, wakapiga mtoto risasi, ambaye tulifikisha hospitali alikata roho akitibiwa. Kwa sasa wote wamelala hapa kwa mochari Maralal, baba na mtoto wake mdogo,” said Shadrack Lesoipa, a brother to the deceased.
Kuntai Lesoipa, a family member, added: “Ni uchungu sana tukiendelea kupoteza watu kila siku, usiku na mchana, na hatuoni hata njia yoyote ambayo tunaweza saidika kwa sababu serikali tu wanatuangalia watu wakikufa na hatuelewi ni nini. Kwa sababu saa hizi ukipata ripoti ya hapa Samburu West, zaidi ya watu 200 wamepoteza maisha.”
Samburu police boss Thomas Ototo said police have heightened alert levels in the area, and asked residents to be vigilant.
The affected areas have questioned the government’s commitment to tackling banditry in the region, questioning how the problem still persists more than a year after the government declared the region as disturbed and dangerous, and launched a security operation to restore peace.
