Kisumu
5/12/07
 
VIOLENCE MARRED KENYA’S ELECTION HAS CLAIMED LIVES OF 16 MORE PEOPLE IN KURESOI WHILE MOI’S TEA FACTORY IS TARGETED.

By Leo Odera Omolo
 
Close to 10,000 registered voters in clash-torn Kuresoi in Molo district, may not take part in the forthcoming general elections.
 
Many of the residents are alleged to have become target of attacks over claims they were illegal settlers and not the indignant and bonafide residents of the area.
 
By Wednesday the police had arrested 102 people in the violence prone Kuresoi area in Molo. Over 16 deaths and 67 houses burnt to ashes and thousands of families displaced.
 
On Monday this week Mr. Fredrick Ondiek, a primary school teacher at Githunguri Primary School in Sondu River area was killed at Arimi Farm as he walked home from his place of work.
 
Mr. Ondiek26 year old teacher was a Kisii by tribe whose family has settled in Kuresoi.
 
Elsewhere, ODM leaders have accused the Kibaki administration of being indifferent to the killings and destruction of property in Kuresoi nd Mt. Elgon. The party leaders said the silence on the part of the government only served to turn the perpetrators of the violence.
 
The ODM national Chairman Mr. Henry Kosgei asked the government to issue a statement on what it was to protect residents of these parts and the entire country from wanton killing and destruction by fellow citizens.
 
In Kuresoi, the displaced families now camping at the Olenguruone DO’s office and at the Keringet police post have expressed fear that they may not be able to cost their votes on DECEMBER 27, 2007.
 
‘’More have cried about the election now. All we want is to get back to our houses and resume the normal life. But some of our names have already been torched and burnt down,’’ said a resident in Sikilai.
 
Meanwhile three leaders from the Kipsigis community have called on the government to stop the senseless killing of innocent people in Kuresoi once and for all.
 
Spear heading by the call former powerful PC in charge of Provincial Administration and Internal Security in the lost KANU government which ousted from power in 2003. Mr. Zakayo K. Cheruiyot, the outgoing former Belgut MP Charles K. Keter and former nominated MP Franklin Bett, the trio expressed fears the violence may stop people from voting.
  
Two hotspots in Kenya have turned to be the death corners in a country, which is going to the polls within the next three weeks.
 
So far four politically related violent deaths have occurred in various parts of the country. The first was in Meru, followed by Nyakach in Nyanza and the latest shooting to death of Ms Onduso an aspirant for Lugari parliamentary seat in Lugari, Western Province.
 
Onduso was gunned down by unknown assailants in Nairobi South ‘B’ suburb when she dropped at her sister’s house for the night. Her killers are still at large.
 
Hundreds of thousands of violence scared families are streaming out of Kuresoi in Molo district after 16 people have lost their lives within one week. The refugees have caused humanitarian crisis as families fled their houses in the new created district.
 
Local leaders have appealed to the government to bring to an immediate end the Kuresoi clashes as a schoolteacher was killed while police gunned down a suspected raider. The victim was hacked to death at Aremi farm near a primary school where he works, only hours after police shot dead a man said to have been part of a gang that had raided Mwane village and burnt 18 dwelling houses.
 
According to the police report the gang had earlier raided homes near Keringet Trading Centre and set on fire two motor vehicles.
 
An ODM parliamentary aspirant in Kuresoi Constituency Mr. Zakayo K. Cheruioyot, a former powerful permanent secretary in charge of Provincial Administration and Internal security in the last KANU regime pleaded with the government to end the clashes and restore law and order in the area.
 
Molo OCPD Mr. John Katume said a band of raiders was going round villages burning houses when police confronted them.
 
‘’We managed to shoot dead one of them, while the others fled and escaped. The two vehicles parked outside the house of one resident a Mr. Daniel Obare were torched and reduced to empty shells.
 
The month long Kuresoi violence has spread to Kaptagich, Olenguruone, Muchorwa and Sitoito areas. It is pitting members of the Kalenjin and the Kikuyu tribes who have settled in the former white settlers large-scale farms, which are now sub-divided into small-scale piece farms.
 
By Tuesday morning the district officer’s offices at Olenguruone town was converted into a refugee camp with more than 300 families being sheltered therein.
 
On the main road linking Olenguruone, Molo and Elburgon hundreds of families were seen commuting by foot while ferrying their household goods and few property left enroute to safety.
 
Politicians have expressed fears that the clashes could be plot to detranchise the registered voters in the area and deny them the right of electing an MP of their choice.
 
The clashes have also affected the production and manufacturing of tea at the nearby Kaptaguch Tea Factory which is owned wholly by the retired former President Daniel Arap Moi.
 
Those taking refuge at the DO’s office were workers and employees at the Kaptagich Tea Estate and factory. They were forced to flee after being threatened with death.
 
The management of the Tea estates and factory had told the workers that it was no longer safe for them to stay after residents had issued threat that they would attack the factory and kill all outsiders working there.
 
The latest development is a clear indication that there are some elements of political overtone. The retired President Moi has openly declared his unswerving support and backing for President Kibaki’s re-election campaign, while the bulk of the residents of Kuresoi are believed to be supporting the opposition ODM party candidate Raila Amolo Odinga.
 
Another bunch of 200 displaced persons have sought refuge at Keringet police post.
 
‘’We have nowhere else to go, no food, no water, not even blankets to cover ourselves during chilly nights. We only fled for our dear lives. The raiders had looted all our property including clothes, bedding and utensils, said one Peter Lang’at.
 
On Monday evening a group of marauding youth set on fire a vehicle, which belonged to a police officer and stoned several other vehicles plying on the main Olenguruone - Molo road.
 
On the same day police had to use teargas to disperse the group, which had blocked the Olenguruone road while protesting against government failure to contain the violence.
 
The group also protesting against harassment and arbitrary arrests of innocent members of the public.
 
Three more people have been reported killed in fresh clothes in Mt. Elgon area by men suspected to be members of the outlawed Sabaot Land Defense Force. These gangs of militias have killed close to 200 people since last year.
 
Home made guns have also been introduced in the conflict. Some gangsters are said to be armed with modern weapons such as AK 47 rifles.
 
Ends
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