Inside the six-hour siege by bandits at Baringo South school
At 9am on Tuesday morning, more than 227 grade six and class eight learners at Kapindasum Primary School in Baringo South were revising in their respective classes in preparation for next week's national examination.
A few minutes later, several gunshots were heard a kilometre away from the school – some General Service Unit (GSU) officers on patrol had come into contact with armed criminals and a fierce exchange of gunfire ensued.
Panicked students and teachers were forced to scurry for safety, lying on the floors of their classrooms, while some fled to the dormitory.
Pupils at Kapindasum Primary School in Baringo South lie on the floor for safety after bandits attacked near the school on October 24, 2023.
For more than six hours, the students lay still on the floors as security personnel, including reinforcements from the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) and police reservists, engaged the armed criminals who had surrounded the institution and the surrounding area.
"We want the government to come to our aid. The CS should help us, we have been sleeping on the floor since morning. We have not eaten, we have not even gone to relieve ourselves, and we are in a panic because we are almost sitting for our national examination. How can we compete with other learners in such a situation?" said Catherine Cheptarus.
Winnie Jeruto said they heard the gunshots and were told by their teachers to lie still until normalcy returned, with some of them crying in panic.
"There have been several attacks by armed criminals [around] our institution and we wonder if we are less Kenyans. For how long will children in these banditry-prone villages suffer at the hands of armed criminals? It is so disheartening because these attacks are happening when we are about to sit for our final exams. How can we be safe if we are attacked in broad daylight within the school compound?" asked the distraught student.
Elijah Kiptoon, the school's head teacher, said that the incident had caused panic and trauma among the students.
"During the shootout between the officers and the bandits, some of the students' belongings, including clothes and buckets, were destroyed by the gunshots. For six hours, the students and their teachers lay on the floor. They did not eat lunch or move from their positions, let alone go to relieve themselves," said Mr Kiptoon.
"Tension is still very high in this area and I am just appealing to the government to move with speed and provide adequate security for the candidates as they prepare for their examination," he added.
Despite the attacks, the head teacher was categorical that they will not be intimidated and that the learners will sit for their national examination at their institution.
When the Nation visited the institution on Tuesday afternoon, the scene was not for the faint-hearted as the school compound had been turned into a veritable battlefield.
Pupils and their tutors lay motionless on the floors of the classrooms as the tens of security operatives on the premises engaged the criminals who were also firing back into the institution.
The shooting, which started at 9am, ended a few minutes after 3pm.
Two military helicopters were also seen hovering around the school at minutes past 3pm, but left after making two rounds in the area.
Some locals who were on their farms near the school compound were also caught in the attack and forced to hide in a cattle dip for more than five hours.
Eunice Changole, who was among the farmers, said she left Chemorong'ion village, where she had fled to for safety, at 9am to farm in Kapindasum.
While they were weeding some vegetables, they heard several gunshots coming from the nearby school.
"We fled into the bush and hid at a cattle dip. We heard the bandits coming in our direction as they fled. We hid at the dip for more than five hours until we were rescued by the police who evacuated us in an armoured vehicle as the gunshots filled the air. It was a matter of life and death, I must say," said Ms Changole, who was traumatised by the incident.
On October 3, armed assailants fired shots into the school compound while students were taking their lunch break.
According to the head teacher, the criminals attacked the school an hour after they were repelled by security agents while herding their cattle about 300 metres from the school compound.
The bandits are believed to be among a number of illegal herders from the neighbouring community who have invaded the area with their cattle under the guise of searching for water and pasture.
At about noon on Monday, some police reservists on patrol in the area came into contact with the criminals and a fierce exchange of gunfire ensued between the two groups, which lasted for more than 10 minutes.
“The reservists retreated thereafter and an hour later, the bandits resurfaced and fired three shots into the school compound while learners were going for lunch. It was helter-skelter as everyone at the institution ran for safety. The school is tense following the incident and we fear that learning may be interrupted if the criminals are not flushed out,” said the head teacher.
"The reservists then retreated and an hour later the bandits resurfaced and fired three shots into the school compound while the students were going to lunch. It was helter-skelter as everyone in the institution ran for safety. The school is tense following the incident and we fear that learning may be disrupted if the criminals are not flushed out," said the head teacher.
The institution is among 20 others in the six counties of the troubled North Rift region that were earmarked by the state for reconstruction after being vandalised by armed criminals from the neighbouring community.
The school was reopened on January 23 following a directive by President William Ruto to resume learning in all institutions that had been closed in volatile villages due to a spate of attacks.
For security reasons, the institution has only opened its doors to learners in Grade Six, Junior Secondary and Grade Eight so that in the event of an attack, they will be easier to control and secure than those in the lower grades.
They are all boarders. To ensure their safety, more than eight police officers have been deployed to live in the school, and there is a General Service Unit (GSU) camp to supplement them, which is also manned at night with the presence of an Armoured Police Carrier (APC).
The school has been opening and closing since 2012 due to the spate of attacks. The bandits have also destroyed desks and more than four solar panels at the institution.
The Nation learnt that there is a hill 200 metres away from the institution, which the criminals sometimes climb and shoot at pupils and teachers in the school to instil fear and scare them away.
In the same institution, there are holes in the windows, water tanks and roofs of some classes and the girls' dormitory – not just holes made by pupils, but sad reminders of the impact of bullets fired into the institution by armed criminals who invaded in broad daylight.
The bandits, believed to be from neighbouring Tiaty Subcounty, attacked the school in 2012 while students were in class, and started shooting at them indiscriminately.
Everyone in the compound fled for their safety.
Sadly, the shooting left three pupils dead and one seriously injured, causing a mass exodus of people in the area who fled with their children to safer villages such as Embosos, Mochongoi and Kabel, fearing for their lives. The school was also closed for more than five years until 2017, when it was partially reopened.
Since 2019, primary school pupils have been accommodated in the neighbouring Chemorong’ion Primary School due to the spate of attacks that have led to the displacement of people in the area.
To date, the people of Kapindasum have not returned to their homes, fearing for their lives.
In the aftermath of the exodus, some structures that were once a trading centre, a nearby dispensary and people's homes have been completely destroyed by the attackers. Some of the few remaining buildings, including a former cattle dip and a chief's office, are overgrown with bushes, indicating that the area has been abandoned for years.
The neighbouring villages adjacent to the school are also deserted after the locals fled due to the unfolding insecurity in 2012, the nearest being Chemorong'ion, more than four kilometres away. No one dares to walk to the facility unless accompanied by security guards.
Locals in the porous area are reluctant to move back because of the lack of security. Some houses have been torched and others destroyed by bandits, leaving them with nowhere to live.
"Several government projects in the village were also destroyed by the bandits, including a borehole and a dispensary whose solar panels were also stolen," said John Kimosop, a local resident.
The displaced administrator claimed that more than 75 per cent of Mukutani Ward had been abandoned and occupied by armed criminals, with only the remaining 25 per cent occupied, albeit pitted by rampant attacks so far.
The abandoned villages, he said, are now a bandits' paradise, with dozens of kilometres in the volatile Mukutani Ward, comprising four towns including Mukutani, Arabal, Kiserian and Rugus, completely deserted.
"Even what used to be roads are no longer visible because they are overgrown with bushes. Access to the area is a death trap because it is inhabited by the attackers. The criminals are still moving into the villages inhabited by the displaced, with the aim of driving them out. An entire ward with four locations is almost their territory," said the administrator.
