Sat, 2 Feb 2008 03:34:35 -0800 (PST)


By Leo Odera Omolo

TEN more people, among them one administration policeman, died in fresh violence sparked off by the killing of Ainamoi MP David Kimutai Too in Eldoret town on Thursday morning.

A contingent of regular policeman and men from the paramilitary GSU combed  several villages in Ainamoi Division, Kericho District last night while searching for four self-loading rifles and and 200 lrounds of ammunition which were forcefully removed from the armoury at the local district officer’s office by a mob of youths protesting the killing of the MP.

The AP died while defending the armory. Nine other people died in different parts of the district. And ten more were killed along the Bureti, Nyamira border near Ikonge trading centre, Nyansiongo and Manga settlement scheme near Sotik.

Fresh tribal skirmishes have erupted along tribal boundaries between the Kipsigis and Kisii communities in western Kenya following the shooting and Killing of the youthful Ainamoi MP David Kimutai Arap Too in Eldoret town.

The Late Too, a member of the opposition ODM party died in haile bullets in a shooting incident involving a traffic police constable. And the fresh flare up erupted immediately the news reached Kericho, Bureti, Bomet, Kipkelion and the newly created Sotik district.

The war hit areas bordered Bomet, Sotik and the recently created Borabu district. The skirmishes erupted after it came to the knowledge of the public that the policeman, the killer of the slain MP, was a member of the Abagusii community.

In what appeared to be politically motivated revenge hundreds of Kipsigis Morans ( youths) armed themselves with crude weapons such as arrows, spears, machetes ( pangas ) and attacked unsuspecting Kisiis in Kericho, Sotik, Bomet, Litein and other towns out market places.

The marauding youths also raided tea estates and factories to flush out Kisii workers. And along the borders separating the two belligerent communities, the Kipsigis morans raided the nearby Kisii villages. Several people were shot with arrows in new waves of violence along the border area on both sides.

Many houses were burnt and herds of cattle rustled. The combative youth defiantly ignored the plea by their leaders who held a series of public meetings along the border area and pleaded for peace and calm.

The Kipsigi youth who came by the hundreds also stole household items and valuables before the adequate number of security personnel were rushed in and deployed to the border areas, but this did not stop the fighting in this usually volatile border area separating the Nyanza and Rift Valley Provinces.

In Kericho municipality, which is part of the slain MP’s constituency angry residents barricaded all the roads leading in and out of the town with large stones and logs, while others fell huge trees on the roads to block the motorists.

Business came to a stand still in Kericho town as traders hurriedly closed their shops in fear of looting. Two buildings housing a Posho mill and a hardware shop were torched and razed to the ground

The angry mob of youth barricades the main Kericho- Nakuru road for the better part of yesterday (Friday) forcing motorists to cut short their trips to Western Kenya and turn back

Majengo and Nyagacho estates located within the peri-urban areas of Kericho Municipality whose the majority residents are non-Kipsigis were no go areas. These are the residential locations for the town workers and traders were reduced to dust after several being set a blaze as police engaged the enraged youth on running battles. The security men fired live bullets in the air to disperse the battle hardened youth venting their angers on non- Kipsigis residents.

Six oil tankers ferrying petroleum products to Uganda were set ablaze at Kapsoit trading centre on Kericho- Kisumu highway .

At the James Finlay Tea company two houses belonging to senior managers were also set on fire.

Immediately and within minutes, Kericho town which is still smarting from the post election violence and which was earlier bustling with activity, returned to its violent status of recent weeks.

Also barricaded was Kapsoit Sondu road. To access Kericho one had to go through chambers market on the border. Nyamira- Rachuonyo districts and Ikonge and link up on Chemosit Nyamira on Ngoina road and Litein- Kericho- Kisii highway, but only after negotiating for these passages through numerous illegally eructed road breaks manned by unruly political goons.

The populist Too was until his election victory on December 27th to represent Ainamoi constituency on ODM ticket was the srunep as of Boiywek Secondary School. The slain legistaltor has defeated three former MPs for the area who included Kiptanui Kirior Eng. Ngeno Arap Ngeno ( 1997-2002) and former CID director Noah Nondwa, Arap Too ( 2002-2005) and Dr. Paul Chepkwony of Moi University

His death sparked fresh rioting in Nyanza particularly in Kisumu City where two people among the thousand of protesters were shot dead by police similar of demonstration took place in Kisii, Migori, Oyugi, Siaya, Kakamega and other towns.

Initial reports indicated that the lawmaker was shot while sitting in a car with a lady companion by a traffic police constable in uniform who was riding on a police motorbike .

The police woman who sustained serious bullet wounds later succumbed to her injuries and died at the nearby Moi Teaching Referral Hospital in Eldoret- town where she was rushed for treatment.

Her name was given as Mrs. Eunice Chepkwony, a widow whose husband died last year.  Her late husband was a relative and friend of the slain MP.

A police constable Andrew Moache, who is said to be a married man with two children, yesterday appeared before a Nakuru court and was committed to the High count to stand trial for double murder charges.

The death of Too within a span of three days after the other shooting incident in which the former MP for Embakasi, the late Mugabe Were, was killed has now reduced the ODM Majority of 105 to 103, but at the same time enhanced the number of PNU government MPs to 103

Elections in three other constituencies are yet to the repeated. These are Kamukunji, Trans-mara and Wajir East. The ODM gained one seat when Emuhaya Mr. Kenneth Marende was elected the Speaker of parliament two weeks ago. There is some likelihood that the election to these electoral area will be held together with those made vacant by death of Were and Too and the one vacated by Marende.