- There had been no physical encounters yet as the thugs mostly target uninhabited houses where the owners reside and work in towns.
- Also broken into recently are two local Seventh-Day Adventist churches- Motonyoni and Motondege.
Image: MAGATI OBEBO
For months now, locals at Motonyoni village, Masaba South Sub-County in Kisii had been living on the edge. They tell stories of fear, especially at night.
Many are at their tether's end, speaking of desperation as thugs sweep through their homestead.
Heavy rains pounding the region appear to give the thugs an easy time too.
More than 20 homes in the village have been broken into the last two months and household items carted away.
There had been no physical encounters yet as the thugs mostly target uninhabited houses where the owners reside and work in towns.
Also broken into recently are two local Seventh-Day Adventist churches- Motonyoni and Motondege.
At Motonyoni, they carted away Passover articles among other liturgy items.
At Motondege, audio-electronic equipment was stolen during a night break-in.
The items, however, were recovered as one thug was about to sell them to an unsuspecting buyer near Masimba, the Sub-County capital.
The church said it had no intention to press charges having recovered their items.
In some homes, the thugs have returned to loot as many times as thrice.
At Lawrence Ondieki, they raided twice times, often targeting the single uninhabited house in the compound.
And at his brother's house, Ntabo Ondieki, the thugs returned over four times in one month.
They stole anything on sight, from mattresses and blankets to clothing, kettles, plates and television sets.
At Omosa Timonda, a local primary school teacher, they raided at midnight and drilled a hole in the door to gain entry into the small shop tucked inside a posho mill.
They, however, recoiled at the alarm raised by the teacher's wife. She had taken vigil to guard the premises as break-ins increased.
A week later, more other thugs raided this time targeting Omosa's younger brother's house, Nyaramba, where they walked away with iron sheets and cement.
He lost about Sh90,000 worth of the items.
Two days early, the thugs had unsuccessfully tried to gain entry into a journalist's house.
Besides household items, the thugs also targeted gas cylinders.
At another resident's home, Mary Nyaira, thugs drilled a hole in the window to access the inside lock through which they removed household items and clothing.
She estimated the loss to be worth thousands of shillings.
"I am in dilemma if to report or not because nothing has been recovered in the last similar burglaries," she told the Star.
The most recent was three days ago when another resident, Elijah Mongeri Ben's house was broken into and goods carted away.
The cost is not clear yet as Mongeri has returned home from Nairobi to assess the destruction.
There had been no arrests in all the incidents yet.
A baraza called by the local assistant chief Stanley Osumo did not yield fruits either.
The villagers lament similar security related meetings with the local administrators are not yielding anything.
"Of what meaning are they when people volunteer information on the would-be suspects but no action is taken?," posed Abel Mathayo, a resident.
"And this leaves us asking ourselves questions about our safety as residents."
Morebi Ogwoka, another resident, faulted the chief and his Nyumba Kumi officials for failing to use the leads provided by the wananchi during the baraza to bring the suspects to book.
"There had been instances when the evidence is very plain, the suspects fingered, yet nothing is done," he told the Star.
On Tuesday, during a baraza, the villagers lamented inaction by security agencies to use the intelligence provided to nab the key suspects.
"We have been writing the suspects and even a few have told the chief of how they steal and siphon out these items from here but sad enough that is the far it goes, no arrests, no prosecutions, just one baraza after another," a resident who declined to be named said.
Other villagers said they had grown weary of attending the baraza if nothing was being done.
"I have attended more than five similar sittings, the agenda is the same yet there is no action. What can justify my attendance henceforth is seeing people arrested and prosecuted," Everline Kerubo said.
Stanley Osumo, on his side, promised robust action in the coming weeks to curb the vice.
The chief was yet to respond by press time.