Vigilantes lynch eight suspects over Bungoma killings

By DANIEL PSIRMOI

Bungoma, Kenya: After a month of horrifying attacks by bloodthirsty gangs, Bungoma County is flirting with the rule of the jungle after vigilantes lynched at least eight suspects in the past week.

The reprisal attacks emerged as President Uhuru Kenyatta chaired a crisis meeting at State House, Nairobi, Thursday, where he ordered top police chiefs to stop the spiraling insecurity in parts of the country.

Sources told The Standard the President, who was visibly angry, read the riot act to the security chiefs, warning them his government would not tolerate incompetence and a reign of anarchy.

The Head of State reportedly instructed the police to take action on those implicated in the violence, irrespective of their status in society, apparently in reaction to reports that politicians could be fanning the violence.

At the meeting attended by all Provincial Police Officers (PPOs), Provincial Criminal Investigation Officers (PCIOs) and formation commanders from the regular and Administrative police units, he wondered why the elite specialised units did not appear as active as they were in the past.

In Bungoma, it emerged that residents were planning a confrontation with suspected members of the gangs, frustrated that authorities appear not to be doing enough to protect their lives and property.

The vigilantes are equally ruthless, as witnessed on Tuesday at Chemuche village, where a mob killed a woman accused of hosting suspected members of gangs that have hacked villagers to death.

Lost limbs

The Standard established residents have organised themselves into vigilante groups to protect themselves against the machete-wielding goons who have been on a month-long killing spree.

At least 15 people have been killed and more than 150 maimed. Some have had their eyes gouged out and others lost limbs in Bungoma and Busia Counties.

Independent enquiries by The Standard indicate at least eight people have been lynched in different places, which have borne the brunt of the attacks that have terrified residents of Kenya’s third largest County.

A senior police officer who declined to be named, citing sensitivity of the matter, corroborated our tally saying the retaliatory attacks happened in the past week. “Two people were lynched at Chwele market, two at Khaoya village, another two in Bumula and one at Ndegelwa,” said the officer. The Standard established that residents profiled the suspects and informed the vigilantes who rounded them up. At Khaoya village, the suspects were escorted to a kangaroo court referred to as ‘The Hague’, where a hurried trial was conducted. The suspects were found guilty and then executed. There are fears more people could be lynched as residents say they know their attackers.

The residents claim they have taken the law into their own hands because of the apparent inaction by the police to stop the senseless killings.

Police are yet to identify those behind the mayhem or the motive for the attacks often carried out at night by criminals driven in lorries.

But authorities suspect the attacks are politically instigated and could be linked to election petitions pending in local courts.

Independent enquiries by The Standard indicate two people suspected to be part of the gang were lynched at Chwele market last Thursday. On Tuesday, a mob accosted a woman at Chemuche village and killed her for allegedly shielding suspects. The victim’s pleas for her life to be spared were drowned by the screaming mob.