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Roy Lumbe @lumbe_roy

Sixteen people, among them an assistant chief, have been arrested on suspicion of fanning tribal clashes that rocked Nessuit, Marioshoni, and Olposimoru villages in Nakuru County. 

Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya claimed the suspects played a role in organising and fuelling the clashes. 

Speaking in his office yesterday Natembeya said the suspects will be presented in court today to face murder, arson, assault and promoting warlike activities charges. 

While condemning the incident, which has left five dead, and more than 100 injured, Natembeya said some politicians are also being sought for inciting the communities. 

Almost 200 houses have been torched and more than 3,000 residents displaced from 10 villages and are currently camping at the at Nessuit, Ainaptich and Misengekwa primary schools, Elburgon police station.

“We need to stop this madness, if you have an issue with your neighbour there are ways of having the problem solved and not through violence, we are better than this,” said Natembeya. 

Natembeya noted that the national county governments in partnership with Red Cross have started distributing foodstuff, medicines and construction materials for the affected families in the camps calling on those whose houses were not set ablaze and are still in the temporary camps to go back. 

“We have beefed up security in all the hotspot areas and we also need to avoid congestion in the camps during the pandemic, calm has been restored and we will have a series of meetings as from today,” he added. 

The administrator further added that the regional security teams have had a lengthy meeting with officers from the Kenya Forest Service, the National Lands Commission to come up with a lasting solution to the perennial fighting that has been attributed to land. 

“Most of our efforts to settle these disputes have been blocked by court cases that have stalled but we will seek to ensure the matter is resolved as soon as possible,” said Natembeya 

He called on residents to embrace peace and coexist warning of any form of incitement. 

Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui said his administration is committed to finding a lasting solution to the perennial conflict in Njoro and Molo sub-counties. 

While calling on the locals to coexist together, Kinyanjui said they are working with other Government agencies to see an end to the conflict that has left several dead, injured and property destroyed.  

The governor together with Natembeya, are expected to lead peace meetings in affected areas tomorrow. 

“We are making a passionate plea that we all maintain peace and be the good neighbours you have been for years. Let no one come in between you,” said Kinyanjui. 

Rift Valley Council of Elders chairman Gilbert Kabage, while calling on the government to ensure there is a lasting solution to the clashes, noted land has been a major source of conflict between communities living in the area.

Land issue

He wants the government to come up with a team that will address the land issue and ensure the matter is settled once and for all for the betterment of the area and the region.

“The government must urgently address the root cause of the incessant conflicts and that is the Mau Forest land question not cattle theft. 

Last month, the Nakuru High Court issued temporary orders stopping the government from evicting more than 40,000 families from Marioshoni area in Njoro on alleged grounds of encroaching the Mau Forest Complex.

According to local leaders, the move to forcibly evict people from the forest was among the main contributors to the ethnic clashes as currently witnessed in the past few days as people will want to own land.

In the ruling, Environment and Lands Court Judge Justice John Mutungi granted the orders following an application under certificate of urgency filed by Nakuru Assembly deputy speaker Samuel Tonui.

According to Justice Mutungi, the petition raises weighty and valid constitutional issues adding that the matter has to be heard as a number of families claim to have valid title deeds.

He further noted that having regarded to the issues and implications that go with evictions where multitudes of person may be rendered homeless especially during the Covid-19 pandemic there was a need to temporarily stop the evictions.

The judge barred Cabinet Secretary for Environment, the Attorney General, the Kenya Forests Service, and the Regional Commissioner from evicting the applicants from the land until the matter is heard and determined.

This was after the government kicked off evictions of illegal settlers on the fringes of the expansive Eastern Mau Forest in Nakuru rendering a number of forest dwellers homeless.

Kenya Forest Service (KFS) had kicked off a multi-agency operation to reclaim Logoman, Sururu, Likia, Kiptunga, Marioshoni, Nessuit, Baraget and Oleposimoru forests within the Mau Forest complex.