Villagers flee as raiders torch houses in Baringo

Meshack Lokoromo a resident of Sirata, Marigat district in Baringo county collects the remains of his belongings after suspected cattle rustlers torched his house before stealing his livestock. The raiders attacked four villages in Baringo South killing two people, torched elven house and stole thousands of cattle in May 2014. [Photo: Kipsang Joseph/Standard]

Baringo, Kenya: Suspected cattle rustlers have torched houses and shops in Makutani location in Marigat barely three weeks after a similar attack.

The raiders, whose exact number could not be immediately established, overran the village on Wednesday night, setting six houses on fire including that of the area chief.

The incident occurred at the time when residents are camping at Makutani Primary School following another attack early this month in which two people were killed and several others seriously injured.

Makutani chief Benjamin Lecher said no deaths were reported during the incident that lasted for more than four hours.

The raiders are said to have fled towards Chepkalacha in East Pokot.

At the same time, Baringo County Commissioner Bernard Leparmarai has refuted claims that seven people were killed on Wednesday by suspected Turkana raiders as reported by a section of the media.

He accused a section of civil societies of being behind the campaign, saying initial investigations carried out by the police established that nobody was killed.

Crisis meeting

“The area said to have been raided by the Turkana raiders was forcefully occupied by Pokots some years back after driving out residents,” he reiterated.

 He confirmed his transfer to Bomet County, saying his position will be taken over by Peter Okwanyo.

The fresh attack came even as political leaders from Baringo County led by Governor Benjamin Cheboi held a seven-hour crisis security meeting at a Nairobi hotel that was attended by five MPs from the region. The meeting was meant to initiate peace talks following the recurrent attacks in the area dating back to 2005.

“As we were about to make our final remarks, reports reached us that raiders were busy torching homes at Makutani. This was painful given the several hours we had spent trying to come up with a lasting solution to the crisis,” said Grace Kipchoim, the Baringo South MP.

Others who were present include Tiaty MP Asman Kamama, Eldama Ravine’s Moses Lessonet, Baringo Central’s Sammy Mwaita and Walliam Cheptumo of Baringo North.