News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo In Migori Town.
The escalating insecurity situation is threatening to derail unless the government moves with speed to stamp out the vices, the prospects of investment in some parts of the mineral rich Migori County in the greater Southern Nyanza.
Thugs armed with sophisticated modern weapons have been in the recent past as roaming loosely in the region robbing trades and even shooting dead those who hesitated in handing to them their hard earned money.
Cattle rustling along the volatile Kuria-Trans-Mara border and at time along the Kuria-Luo and inter-clans feuds within the two Kuria districts are some of the contributing factors to the current insecurity situation in the region
It has of late become a daily occurrence for there to be acts of violence & robberies in Migori Town and it environs, while similar acts of insecurity have been reported in Nyatike, Uriri and Rongo districts.
Political leadership in the region have incessantly called upon the government to beef up security in some areas such as Sori and Macalder towns in Nyatike to improve security and protect lives of individual citizens and traders operating small-scale trades in those area, which are so essential to the service deliveries to the general public.
The straight-talking and abrasive Nyatike MP Edick Omondi Anyanga to stamp out thuggery in his constituency which is not only prone to insecurity due to its proximity to common border with the neighboring Tanzania and Uganda on both land and through Lake Victoria.
The MP disclosed that four Administration Police officers in his constituency are currently interdicted in crime related cases, while one AP was nabbed last week while armed with an illegal gun outside his station o work.
The AP, an officer attached to Mathare Camp in Nairobi was arrested after he had produced a gun in a pub in Sori town and caused a serious commotion with other reveler for some unknown reasons.
The police in Nyatike confirmed the incident and said the matter is actively being investigated by he police working in collaboration with the authorities at the Mathare Camp where the police officer is currently attached.
The investigations include how the officer had obtained the firearm and travelled such a long distance outside his work station.
The Nyatike MP also charged that an aspirant standing for an elective position has been issued with the security detail by the top government officials in the Ministry of Internal Security and Provincial Administration and wondered how that could happen, especially during this year when the general election is beckoning.
Anyanga expressed fears that insecurity in the area is hurting traders and businessmen whose businesses have been subjected to frequent attack and looting by criminal elements, adding that these act of robberies has scared many trades in his constituency to close down their businesses in fear of their personal safety.
On the other hand the Ugandan marine police station on the disputed Migingo Island , which is part of Nyatike constituency have been rounding up Kenyan fishermen and confiscating their catches worth thousands of shilling as a matter of daily occurrences, and yet the island is part of Kenya’s territorial waters.
There is an alarming theft of motorbike boda boda taxis in the entire Migori County, and areas hit so hard include Uriri and Awendo where it has become daily occurrences. A day hardly passed without one motorbike rider having his business machine forcefully taken away by the thugs. These thugs at times kill the riders before making away with their bikes.
Thugs are also targeting the traders operating MPESA outlets. One such incidents in the recent past involved two MPESA agents who were attacked recently by armed thugs who visited their shop in Migori town while armed with AK 47 rifles. The thugs at first fired in the air to scare members of the public away before turning their guns on the two and shooting them fatally. The thugs escaped in awaiting car after stealing Khs 250,000 with unknown number of phone handsets and airtimes of unknown value from the shop.
One of the victims, Johana Ongiri, has since died in Tanwek Mission Hospital in Bomet County where he was transferred for further treatment from a Migori hospital.
Police have yet to make any arrest, though the OCPD has hinted that they were following an important lead in their investigation which might result in the arrest in the near future.
His working colleague who as only identified as Osewe is still received treatment at Ombo Mission Hospital in Migori town.
Several people allegedly involved in the theft of motorbikes taxis have been killed near Awendo Town and their bodies burnt beyond recognition by the enraged members of the public in Awendo Town who responded from calls of distress by boda boda motorbike taxis rider and their bodies set on fire.
Villagers in Kanyamkago North Location, Uriri district recently armed themselves with crude weapons and hunted a group of young men suspected of involvement in a series of serious crimes I areas near Rapogi Trading Center and killed seven youths.
The suspects were caught unaware as they slept in their house by the marauding members of the public who hunted them down like wild antelopes, speared or slashed them with machetes and dosed their bodies with petrol and set them on fire.
One of the suspects who managed to escape lynching, but was fatally wounded, later succumbed to his injuries and died in Hospital where he was taken by police for treatment.
The area D.C. George Kiplagat has, however, warned members of the public not to take the law into their own hands and that they should report any suspicious character in their mid to the police for legal action and not to kill any suspect before their criminal activities are proved beyond any reasonable doubt by competent court of laws.
The Regional Commissioner for Southern Nyanza Erustus Ekidor, however, dismissed some of the claims by Nyatike Mp and said that the government was doing everything in it power to ensure the safety of its citizens, and that the police were actively carrying out investigation into the recent cases of robberies and other crime related matters.
In Migori Town a Nairobi based businessman Peter Jobando, who is a candidate aspiring for the Migioru East parliamentary constituency has called upon the pol9ice and provincial administration authorities to beef up day and night security patrol in the town.
He said the prevailing insecurity situation is not only exposing the residents to a great danger, but it is scaring away all the prospective investors who may be keen and interested in doing business in the region stay away. The region is yawning for entrepreneurs that would offer employment to the youth and help toward the eradication of poverty.
Jobando also appealed to the tobacco companies operating in the region to improve their payment system to the growers, while at the some time taking care of the environmental issues.
He told the residents to elect only development minded people in the next general election and who could turn the region round and make it one of the most vibrant areas. The area has a lot of minerals such as gold, copper, nickel and there are several local and international firms showing interest in establishing gold mines for the purpose of mining the precious stone. All these would bring faster development because there will be plenty of money in circulation
Ends