Writes Leo Odera Omolo
The rate of crime waves in Oyugis town and its environs is reported to have reached the most worrying point and alarming proportion..
The semi-rural town is located in Rachuonyo South district within the Homa-Bay County.Cases of politically related intimidation are also said to be on the upsurge with several local leaders reporting having received phone calls containing life threatening messages.
A young man was killed a couple of weeks ago as he walked home at about 8.p.m after attending a church service in town. So far no arrest has been made.
Johnson Arong’a Apart met his death as he was walking to his home in Kokal village outside Oyugis town after attending an evening church meeting.
Another shocking incident occurred last week when Willis Ocholla a prominent trader in Oyugis town was abducted by four gun-0rorring thugs. The thugs drove him in his car all the way to Mumias where his car was eventually abandoned..
The incident took place while Ocholla was driving to his residence within Oyugis town after 8 p.m in the evening. The thugs blocked his path with another car and four thugs emerged, one of the brandishing what looked like an AK 47assault rifle. The bundled Ocholla into the back sea of his car, blind folded him and drove towards Kisumu.
He was later released in a Kisumu city residential estate where he was abandoned by his abductors chained from behind and stripped naked.
Oholla had the colossal sums of money toi the tune of Kshs 300,000 which the they took after frisking his pockets.
He was later rescued by a good Samaritan who gave him a trouser and took him to the Kisumu Police Station. The victim was later admitted to the New Nyanza General Hospital in Kisumu Central Police Station. The good Samaritan also gave him a trouser and thereafter took him to the New Nyanza General Hospital for treatment. He could not speak at the time because the thugs had beaten him up.
Prior to the incident,sources in Oyugis said Ocholla had received the verbal warning from a person whom he knew pretty well who told him to scale his businesses down, especially his flourishing wholesale store.
At the same time, a civic leader representing Wire / Migwi ward Coun Jevis Abuor reported last week that he had received a telephone message warning him not to support a certain parliamentary candidate in the area or else his life would be in danger.The Councilor made a report at the Oyugis police station.
Similar incident of intimidations coming from marauding youths allied to parliamentary aspirants in the contest for the Kasipul seat are on the high increase.
The former MP for Kasipul-Kabondo William Oloo Otula has strongly condemned what he termed as life threatening political thuggeries in the area and called upon the police in Rachuoyo South to redouble their day and night patrol around Oyugis town and its environs.
Otula who said he had lost a cousin the late Arong’a Apat appealed to the police to ensure that the culprits who killed the young man were brought to book.
Otula who represented the area in parliament between 1992 and 1997appeal to the candidates vying for the parliament seat in the area to conduct their campaign in peace and refrain from engaging the drunken youths to disrupt the peace and tranquility in the are.
Ends