• Knut Turkana branch chairperson Kenyaman Ariong'i condemned the attack.
• Okeya was in the company of the officers when they were ambushed.
Image: HESBORN ETYANG
A teacher was shot dead on Wednesday by suspected Pokot bandits on Napeitom-Lokori road in Turkana East.
Oscar Okeya of Napeitom Primary School was travelling to Lodwar.
Turkana county police commander Samuel Ndanyi said the armed gang also injured two AP officers. They were admitted to Lokori AIC health centre. Plans were underway to have them airlifted to Eldoret or Nairobi.
Okeya was in the company of the officers when they were ambushed. He died on the spot from gunshot wounds. The attackers fled.
Knut Turkana branch chairperson Kenyaman Ariong'i condemned the attack. He appealed to the government to take action. He said teachers are being maimed and killed and urged Interior CS Fred Matiang'i to beef up security.
"Teachers are very sad today. Not because it's the first time for a teacher to be killed in Turkana by bandits, but because many teachers have been killed by suspected Pokot bandits from Tiaty subcounty, yet no action has been taken to ensure our security," the unionist said.
"The teacher was responding to the call of the government that they should break for half-term. Since he comes from a region that transport is a problem, as there are no vehicles, he boarded an AP vehicle that was being driven to Lokori, about 45km from Napeitom Primary School."
Ariong'i said it was a great loss to the teaching fraternity and Okeya's family. Dreams have been shattered by "illiterate people who don't understand the value of life and it's saddening for the family to receive a coffin, instead of reuniting with their loved one", he said.