On the Saturday of May 23, residents of Mutha area in the neighbourhood of South Kitui National Reserve, tearfully buried 24-year-old boda boda operator, Joel Paul, at Winyunyi village. The life of Joel had been snuffed out a week earlier by 'Shifta' bandits who made away with his motorbike and cell phone.
Hardly had the dust settled after the burial of the motorcyclist, the bandits returned to claim yet another victim four days later. On the wee hours of last Thursday, the bandits raided the Ithamba Nzou village home of 50-year-old Maluki Kilungya, and brutally killed him.
Two days before the marauding Shifta bandits, who roam the South Kitui National Reserve posing as Somali herders murdered Paul, they had struck Kyeni trading centre in Mutha.
At Kyeni they opened gun-fire on shopkeeper Mulaki Mathoka, whom they left for the dead as he bled from a bullet wound inflicted on his left thigh. Mathoka’s life was saved at Kitui County referral hospital where he was admitted.
These are the latest of the attacks on residents of Mutha ward in Mutomo Sub-county of Kitui county that have left the residents tensed and crying for protection. As tension heightened, members of Somali community who run shops at Mutha have since closed down their businesses and fled fearing retaliatory attacks.
Mutha residents told the Star that armed Shifta bandits disguise themselves as Somali herders who have encroached into the South Kitui National Reserve. Since the game reserve falls within Mutha ward, the residents have painfully borne the brunt of murderous attacks by gunmen.
During the burial of Joel, there was palpable disillusionment and outpouring of anger among the residents. Speakers, who included the area MP Rachel Nyamai, ward representative Allan Kavindi and the clergy did not have kind words for the government over failure to guarantee locals security.
The leaders and many residents told the Star they are at a loss why the government has over the years failed to protect them from the gun-wielding bandits who have run over the South Kitui National Reserve and made it their abode.
Former senior chief for Mutha, Ezekiel Kalamba, who is enjoying retirement as an Africa Inland Church pastor at Kaayo Church, disclosed the banditry menace has persisted since the late 1970s. He said in the 1970s poachers hunting for elephant tusks and other game trophies launched attacks on villages in Mutha.
Kalamba, who spoke to the Star at his Ikiatine home, said as attacks on Mutha residents heightened, at some point the government sent the then dreaded Ngoroko police squad to quell the situation. “It was a no-nonsense police squad. For the period they camped at Mutha, peace prevailed as they dealt a big blow to the ruthless gunmen,” said the retired chief.
Kalamba said the situation turned haywire a while after the Ngorokos left Mutha. “A different band of people moved into the park. This time round it was not the poachers. It was the Somali herders who came with their camels and other livestock. They had guns to protect their animals,” said Kalamba.
He said conflict between the encroaching herders were frequent as rustling intensified with resultant killings of the locals. “Not only did a section of the herders who owned guns carry out rustling activities but other crimes like robberies resulting to deaths and kidnapping of Mutha residents,” he said.
Kalamba laments that in the late 1980s through the 1990s, the population of Somali herders who are currently illegally settled in South Kitui National Reserve increased steadily. He said although it is a protected area, the government did not appear keen to remove them from the reserve.
“As the numbers of the herders increased in the reserve, Mutha residents recorded more casualties. Some were killed, others were left with bullet or panga injuries and scars while others were kidnapped and disappeared without trace,” said Kalamba.
“I used to keep a record of the Mutha people who were killed by the Shifta bandits. I handed over the data as I left office but I can count at least 30 people from Mutha who have been killed by the bandits,” he said.
Rhoda Kakya, 70, is extremely bitter with the government. She said that her life took a plunge for the worst after her foster son — Kinyili Ndonye — was taken hostage by the Shifta bandits in August 1992.
She said at the time she ran a flourishing wholesale shop at Mutha trading centre when the bandits arrived. “Kinyili used to run the wholesale shop and a bar I owned at Mutha. That August afternoon, at around 4pm, the Shifta struck and took him away and with that my business came crumbling,” said Kakya.
“When all efforts to trace my son proved futile, I resigned to fate and watched helplessly as both my life and business empire crumbled. I also developed hypertension and I now live on a daily dose of a cocktail of medicine,” said Kalya.
Joel's widow Rachel cannot understand her fate. She is hardly out of her teens but the murderous bandits have snuffed out the life of her husband.
The Star visit to Mutha coincided with the burial of Rachel’s husband and she was so overwhelmed by grief.
Rachel’s husband was brutally murdered by two bandits who had hired him to transport them from Mutha to Enyali area within the South Kitui National Reserve. Mid-way the journey, the bandits turned on the motorcyclist and slashed him to death with a panga. They dismembered his body.
A couple of days later, Joel’s mutilated body was discovered dumped beside the road. It had partly been feasted on by hyenas. His untimely demise left the young Rachel with the burden of bring up two sons — Paul and Joshua — single-handedly.
Mourners at Joel’s burial did not mince words as they protested against the government failure to secure and protected the lives of Mutha residents. They declared it was time the government took decisive action to end the orgy of killings that have lasted for decades.
Joel's uncle, Ibrahim Kasina, who is a pastor tersely said: “If our leadership is incapable of protecting and securing our lives were are going to act.”
Kitui South MP Rachel Nyamai and area MCA Allan Kavindi also criticised the government for allowing the hundreds of herders who harbour bandits into a protected area.
Nyamai told the mourners that at least 24 people from Mutha area had allegedly been killed in cold blood by armed bandits.She waved a hand-written paper containing the list of the murder victims to mourners. “The one we are burying today is the latest victim of a long trail of heinous murders. The paper I am holding contains the names of 24 people who have been murdered in more or less the same way. I declare now that enough is enough,” she said.
“If the government is serious about exterminating al Shabaab, let it launch an immediate and serious operation to drive out the bandits who pose as herders from the game reserve,” she said.
Mutomo DC Jeremiah Tumo, who also addressed the mourners, pledged the government is putting in place measures to ensure it dealt a death blow to the Shifta menace. He said a massive operation is in the offing to drive the herders out of South Kitui National Reserve.
But only four days after Tumo made the pledge, the bandits on Thursday raided the home of 50-year-old Maluki Kilungya in Ithamba Nzou area of Mutha and dragged him out of his bed before butchering him.