A man who narrowly escaped death when suspected bandits stormed Kwa Kamari Township in Kitui County has shed light on the weekend attack which has sent shockwaves across the country. The masked assailants killed seven residents. The attack, according to Peter Mwendwa, did not come as a surprise.
"We all knew of the impeding attack. Known camel herders had threatened to strike. It was just a matter of time," Mzee Mwendwa told the Nation at Kwa Kamari Township, adding that residents had reported the threats to the police.
The former National Police Reservist, who is popularly known by the nickname Moses Wetangula, was among a dozen men who were tilling a farmland near Kwa Kamari Township when the bandits struck on Saturday. He was among eight men who fled when gunshots rent the air.
The assailants who had covered their faces, reportedly fired indiscriminately, setting off a frenzied scampering at and around Kwa Kamari.
When a contingent of police officers from Tseikuru Police Station arrived at Kwa Kamari to respond to the distress, the attackers had left. Witnesses said the attackers whom they estimated to be 40 fled towards the border of Kitui and Tana River counties.
When the dust settled, seven lifeless bodies lay in pools of blood. They are Kilonzi Kauni, 55, and his elder brother Mulandi Kauni, 60, who were working on the farmland alongside Mzee Mwendwa. The others are Mutua Kituo, 63, and Syengo Mwangangi,65. Damaris Matei, 36, Nicholas Muthi Syengo,70, and Tito Munywoki Muthi, 27 were killed at the market. They had sustained gunshot and matchete wounds mainly on the heads.
They attackers also set shops, motorcycles and a petrol station at the township on fire. The motive of the attack was not immediately clear. Security agencies believe the attack was a retaliation after suspected local herdsmen allegedly killed 4 camel herders in the region two months ago.
Kwa Kamari, a tiny trading centre, sits on the margins of Mwingi North Game Reserve in Tseikuru Sub-county, a region which is isolated from the rest of the country by poor roads and mobile telephone networks. It took the Nation team approximately two hours to access the scene of crime from Tseikuru Township which is located approximately 58 kilometers away. According to the police incident report on the Kwa Kamari attack, these conditions slowed down police response, giving the assailants ample time to wreak havoc.
Tseikuru Sub-county is a flashpoint of deadly conflicts between farmers and camel herders from the neighboring Tana River County. They frequently clash over water and pasture. The latest incident has increased to 14 the number of people killed in similar attacks in the region since March.
"A chronology of criminal attacks in Tseikuru Sub-county since March 29 points to a pattern of retaliatory attacks involving two communities," said police spokesman Muchiri Nyaga in a statement. "The National Police Service will take all measures to combat this violence and calls for calm and restraint from both communities".
On Sunday, Deputy Inspector General of police Eliud Lagat flew to the affected region and sought to reassure residents that the government was committed to investigating the latest incident. Separately, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has pledged the commitment of the government to ending the perennial security menace.
These moves, however, did little to restore calm in the region. That evening, Kwa Kamari Township and the neighborhood remained ghosted as residents relocated. Residents pitched makeshift tents in nearby thickets for fear of another round of attacks. In the nearby trading centres, vigilantes armed with bows and arrows kept guard.
"To end the bloodshed, the government needs to either kick out camel herders from Kitui County or disarm them," said Peter Musyimi Mwinzi, a resident of Kwa Kamari region. He echoed Wiper Patriotic Front leader Kalonzo Musyoka who comes from the affected region.
The former vice president led local leaders in condemning the attack. Mr Musyoka, Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua, Kitui Woman Representative Irene Kasalu, and former Kitui North MP John Munuve in dismissing the move by security agencies as too little too late. The leaders see the repeated deadly attacks as an indictment on President William Ruto's administration.
Mr Musyoka described the Saturday evening attack as the deadliest banditry incident in the region in forty years as he called on President Ruto and Mr Murkomen to take action. He wondered why security agencies had allowed armed bandits to roam the region.
"The attackers, believed to be members of a pastoralist community, had earlier encroached illegally into the Mwingi North Game Reserve. Their presence was known. Their encroachment was reported. The tension was documented. So I ask you directly, Mr Murkomen: why were armed men allowed to move freely through Kitui County carrying AK-47 rifles, while the people of Tseikuru had nothing but their bare hands?
"This is not the first time Tseikuru has bled. Over the years, thousands of armed pastoralists have migrated into Tseikuru, Kyuso, Malalani, Twambui, and surrounding areas, forcing school closures and displacing residents. This regime has consistently failed to respond with any decisive, lasting action," Mr Musyoka said in a statement.
