- The government has blamed ethnic profiling that is linked to political inclinations around elections.
- The looming voter registration drive and land disputes are seen as primary causes of the latest attacks and displacements in Lamu.
Image: CYRUS OMBATI
One person was Sunday night killed in an exchange of fire between security agents and gunmen in the Kibaoni area, Lamu.
The man is believed to be part of a gang of jihadists who had tried to attack locals even as the dusk to dawn curfew came in.
Police said they were pursuing more suspects in regard to the botched attack.
The death of the man increases to 13 the number of people so far killed in the area since New Year in attacks. They include four police officers and eight civilians.
Sergeant Isaac Okodoi, corporal Hosea Kimutai and constables Peter Parsayo and Mohamed Guyo died on Friday when their vehicle was attacked by a Rocket Propelled Grenade and bullets in the Milihoi area.
The other civilians had been killed earlier on.
Security agents have intensified operations in the area to tame terror-related activities so far with the announcement of the 30-day curfew.
Officials say the attacks are linked to politics and local terror cells.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiangi Friday held a meeting with elected leaders from Lamu to deliberate on the prevailing security situation in the County.
The meeting in Nairobi comes days after the government gazetted parts of Lamu County as "Disturbed Areas" and dispatched a multi-agency security team to restore peace and order following attacks by criminal gangs that left seven people dead.
The leaders who included Governor Fahim Twaha, Senator Anwar Loitiptip, Woman Representative Ruweida Obbo and Lamu West MP Stanley Muthama resolved to urgently form a leadership forum comprising of elected and non-elected opinion shapers in the county.
The agenda of the forum will be to seek solutions to issues fuelling insecurity and conflicts in the cosmopolitan county ahead of a planned field visit to the county by senior government and security officials this week.
The government has blamed ethnic profiling that is linked to political inclinations around elections, the looming voter registration drive and land disputes as to the primary causes of the latest attacks and displacements in Lamu.
“We are determined to ensure the ugly spectre of violence on a scale that we have regrettably witnessed in the past years does not recur,” Matiang’i said.
He warned that the government will prosecute leaders and recommend to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) that they be barred from contesting in future elections where the evidence points to their involvement in sponsored or incited violence.
He said the attacks risked undermining the intended benefits of massive government investments in and around the county including the Lamu Port and the LAPPSET corridor.
Twaha attributed the latest attacks to the general election claiming unnamed politicians planned to benefit from the displacement of residents who are not deemed as indigenous to the area.
“The truth is most of the elected leaders in the county won by very thin margins and some people reason the best way to alter future election results is to ensure members of certain communities fail to vote by displacing them,” he said.
The leaders urged the government to prioritise the issuance of title deeds in the country to redress contested land ownership and to ensure more local youths are employed in government projects in the region.
-Edited by B. Marita