Police pursue witchdoctor accused of overseeing MRC oath

By Tobias Chanji

Police in Kwale County are pursuing a witchdoctor accused of administering an oath to a group of armed youth in Dzombo Hill Forest in Kwale County.

Eighteen youths were on Monday arrested and charged in a Kwale court. Kwale OCPD Richard Muguai said the witchdoctor escaped with dozens of other gang members when police raided an oath-taking ceremony on the hill.

Last Friday, a group camping at the hill decapitated a policeman, necessitating the deployment of General Service Unit (GSU) officers who are still combing the area for people believed to have links with the separatist group, Mombasa Republican Council.

On Wednesday, Muguai said the identity of the medicine man had not been established, but added residents were assisting police to track him.

“The witchdoctor whose name we don’t know is at large as he ran away with the other group immediately the police went at the scene where others were taking oaths,” said Muguai.

He disclosed that most of the gang members came from Likoni and Kisauni, amid reports that the GSU operations were centred in Msambweni where the youth who fled police are said to be hiding.

“We are yet to identify the motive of these people who to me are just being cheated,”Muguai said.