A farmer who was hacked to death in the land dispute with camel headers was buried in Voi constituency on Tuesday.
Alex Malumba, 35, was murdered at his home on Thursday last week when he tried to drive out a camel herd grazing unlawfully on his farm.
Mourners demanded the government punish the murderers.
“My brother did not deserve to die such a painful death. We are left hopeless and afraid for our security,” his sister Halima Shingira told mourners.
Fighting back tears, she said Malumba had several confrontations with the camel herders who kept trying to invade his farm. He warned them never to set foot on his land.
Then he was hacked to death.
Five suspects have been arrested, however, Voi deputy county commissioner Joseph Mtile said the main suspect is still at large.
Dozens of herders of Somali origin from Northeastern Kenya have invaded parts of Voi and Mwatate subcounties in search of water and pasture.
Sagalla MCA Godwin Kilele called the murder an act of provocation.
Kilele accused the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the DPP officers of laxity in driving off illegal herders. The MCA demanded the government arrest the killers.
Authorities should tell us how people are being killed in the county without the killers being arrested,” the MCA said.
He said nobody had been held accountable for numerous other killings, despite the murders being recorded with the police.
At least six residents have been murdered and 12 injured since 2012 due to ongoing rows between the resident farmers and the herders from other areas.
Taita Taveta Human Rights Watch chairman Haji Mwakio asked the government to investigate village elders and local administrators accused of aiding herders in change for payment.
On Sunday, Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja pledged to terminate all grazing lease agreements and flush out the herders.
Samboja announced that the county government will not allow private landowners to enter into any agreement with herders.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)
