Kitui governor Charity Ngilu on Wednesday urged Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet to flush out bandits masquerading as camel herders along the Tana River border.
Ngilu’s remarks followed the burial of the latest victim in Mutha.
Camel herders from Garissa and Tana River cross over to Kitui and kill herdsmen as they jostle for pasture.
More than 50 Kitui herders have been killed by invading pastoralists, who drive herds of camels into their land.
Residents and their leaders have said they have been ignored for a long time and tension is rising between the communities living along the common boundary.
Ngilu met Boinnet and told him the killings of Kitui residents must stop. “This needs to come to an end once and for all. We need the communities raising camels to respect the rights of others, the same way Kitui people respect rights of other people,” she said.
The governor said the worst-affected areas are Musenge, Kivuiyo, Kyeni, Dr Anaan, Inyali, Ikandani and Ingo in Mutha. In Kitui East, the worst-hit areas are Engamba, Ngwaniwa and Imagination.
Boinnet assured Ngilu that peace will be restored and invading communities from Garissa and Tana River will return to their areas.
Separately, Kitui leaders have urged security personnel to restore peace in the conflict-prone Mutha ward in Kitui East. They said the area has become a killing field for bandits.
The leaders, in a joint statement on Thursday in Kitui, condemned the killing of a person in Musenge, Mutha. They said the killing is a wake-up call to security personnel in Kitui. “These kinds of killings have gone on for far too long with little action taken against perpetrators. I want to state categorically that Kambas’ lives matter and must be protected to the full extent of the law,” Senator Enoch Wambua said.
He said the community’s commitment to peace and good neighbourliness must never be mistaken for cowardice.
“Just recently, another person was killed in similar circumstances in Kitui East. When MP Nimrod Mbai demanded action on the heinous act, he was threatened with arrest,” the senator said.
Wambua said one of the most important duties of any state is to protect its citizens.
“Any state that pays lip service but is unable or unwilling to protect its citizens from any aggression loses its legitimacy in the face of the vulnerable citizens,” he said.
He said if Mutha residents and others near Tana River county continue to suffer attacks, the leaders may be forced to devise other means of protecting their people.
“When elected leaders demand protection for their people, it is because that is what we are elected to do. On the matter of the safety of our people, no elected leader will be cowed by threats of arrest or even actual arrest,” Wambua said.
Kitui East MP Rachael Nyamai urged county commissioner Samuel Kimiti to come to the aid of the people of Mutomo and Mutha.
Kimiti has said security officers have been deployed to the area to flush out the attackers.