- Governor Stanley Kiptis said Saimosoi and Bartabwa areas have been deserted after the residents fled the conflicts.
- On Friday evening, the bandit shot and killed a senior General Service Unit officer.
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
Political leaders in Baringo have suspended campaigns for a week as they come together to call for peace and security in the troubled region.
This comes after more than 10 people, among them a senior police officer, were killed in Muchongoi and the surrounding areas in less than two weeks.
Several residents have since fled the hotspots to seek refuge in the neighbouring counties.
Baringo Governor Stanley Kiptis said it was unfortunate that families had fled to Nakuru, Uasin Ngishu, Bungoma and Laikipia counties after their relatives were killed, maimed, their homes destroyed and livestock stolen during the attack.
“These are blood-thirsty criminals. On Saturday, six people were buried in Baringo South while another two were interred in Baringo, several other bodies are laying in mortuaries while the injured are in different hospitals in Nakuru, Kabarnet, Eldoret and Nyahururu,” he said.
On Friday evening, the bandit shot and killed a senior General Service Unit officer Wycliffe Nyongesa in Muchongoi and fled with a G3 rifle with 60 rounds of ammunition.
Three other officers who were on patrol with Nyongesa were also injured in the attack and are admitted to various hospitals in Nakuru and Eldoret.
Addressing the media in Nakuru, Kiptis, who was accompanied by former Baringo Governor Benjamin Kemboi, Baringo MPs and MCAs and political aspirants, said the conflicts had caused a humanitarian crisis in the county and its neighbours.
“The leaders decided to stand together, regardless of their political affiliations and condemn the killings, displacements and destructions,” he said.
Kiptis said that Saimosoi and Bartabwa areas had been deserted after the residents fled the conflicts.
“Baringo leaders have held a consultative meeting with senior officials from the national government and churches, including Interior Security Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, but nothing has come to fruition, instead, the criminals are getting bolder,” he said.
He urged the government to deploy Kenya Defence Forces in the area to flush out the bandits who hide in Kerio Valley and the vast mountainous areas of Baringo North and South.
“Baringo has lost close to 300 people since 2005. Yesterday, bandits burnt houses in Arabal and they are having good time terrorising residents,” he added.
Kiptis lamented that neither could leaders campaign peacefully during this electioneering period nor could his administration deliver services in the affected areas because of insecurity.
He noted that the children who have just concluded that Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations and those who are commencing the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations were sitting the tests in a very insecure environment.
“We are asking the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) to consider the situations under which these children did their examinations and be lenient in marking their papers,” he said.
East African Legislative Assembly MP Florence Jematia said the insecurity in Baringo was scaring away investors and hampering development in the area.
“Even if the national government and international community gives Baringo all the money, the development will not be achieved with the ongoing conflicts," she noted.
Jematia wondered why the government was fence-sitting as the conflicts, killings and destruction went on in Baringo.
The leaders urged the government, well-wishers and humanitarian organisations such as the Kenya Red Cross Society to give relief food to families that have been displaced.