Elders from the banditry-prone counties in the North Rift have embarked on a mission to end the new wave of banditry attacks in Kerio Valley, which has left at least 30 people, including a priest, dead since the beginning of the year.

The elders drawn from Baringo, Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot and Uasin Gishu counties have called for sobriety in the region even as they hit out at parents in the area for abdicating their responsibilities.  

The elders who held a meeting at Cheptebo in Elgeyo Marakwet admitted that they have in the past failed in their duties for not guiding the community on the right path.

“We have failed in our role as elders. Things are not going right in the community, yet we are there. Kuna msemo kwa Kiswahili unasema, penye wazee mambo hayaharibiki, lakini yameharibika na tuko (There is a saying in Swahili which says that where there are elders, things do not go astray. But things are not going well, yet we are there). We are calling on our youth to listen to their parents and their elders for peace to prevail in our region,” said Andrew Chemweno, Chairman of the Kalenjin Myoot Council of Elders, Marakwet branch.

The elders called for a ceasefire in the banditry-prone region for normalcy to be restored and residents to go back to their daily chores.

Catholic priest

“We are saddened by what is happening in Kerio Valley to the extent that a Catholic priest is killed in cold blood. We have resolved as elders that all of us are brothers, and we don’t want to witness bloodshed again. Let’s co-exist peacefully and support the government in opening up the region for development,” said Chemweno.

Fr Allois Bett, who was the Parish priest of St Matthias Lumumba, Tot Parish in Elgeyo Marakwet County, was shot dead by armed people a month ago while returning from a Jumuiya mass in a nearby village, about 2km from the church.

The elders have pledged to support the government’s ongoing operation to restore calm in the area and open up schools closed as a result of banditry in the region.

“We condemn the ongoing killings and we have resolved as elders that all criminal activities being witnessed in Kerio Valley and Rift Valley at large will not be reported again,” said Pokot County Council of Elders chairman John Muok.

The elders have planned a series of joint peace meetings bringing together peace committees and members of the provincial administration at the porous borders in the north Rift in a bid to look for lasting peace.

“We call on all non-locals, including teachers who had fled Kerio Valley following the killing of the priest, to go back to their workstations, as calm has already been restored. We have resolved that no single person will lose their lives under our watch.”