Priest's death: DCI visits, war on cattle rustling raises questions

Slain Catholic priest, Fr Aloise Bett of St Mulumba Catholic Church, Kerio Valley, who was shot dead on Thursday, May 22, 2025. [Courtesy] The mystery surrounding the death of Catholic priest, Father Allois Cheruiyot Bett, deepened on Saturday after the church revealed that detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had visited him twice before he was brutally murdered. Bett was shot and killed on May 22, 2025, in Kerio Valley, Elgeyo Marakwet County, while on his way to his parish after attending a meeting. St Mathias Mulumba Church catechist Richard Ruto, who worked closely with the late Bett, said the individuals suspected to be DCI officers visited the residence in Tot, Elgeyo Marakwet, to look for the priest. According to Ruto, the visitors only inquired of his whereabouts but never left a message or stated why they were looking for him. Ruto said the first visit was on Friday, May 16, when officers knocked on the door and inquired about the whereabouts of the priest. "After they were informed that Bett was away on his evangelism mission, they retreated to a local hotel adjacent to the home, stayed there for a while then left," Ruto said. The following day, May 17, he said, the detectives arrived at the home and made inquiries about the priest's whereabouts, and they left immediately after they were told that he was away. According to the catechist (a teacher in the Catholic Church), the visit by the people believed to be security personnel, amid the ongoing operation to weed out suspected criminals, caused slain Bett to be perceived by armed individuals as a spy. He said locals in the Kerio Valley highly suspected that Bett was killed because of allegations of spying on suspected bandits. "When they visited Allois for the second time, word went around that the priest was a spy who was helping the security personnel to identify suspected bandits. From that moment, he became a target because they were heard claiming that he was collaborating with the police in the security operation to eliminate them," the catechist said. He continued to say: "After the two visits by the people believed to be the DCI, everyone who is a non-resident of Kerio Valley, Bett was assumed to be working with the DCI." "Many non-residents, including teachers, welders, civil servants and other professionals in civil service became a target." Ruto said peace-loving locals there had given out names of people suspected to be bandits to authorities in an enhanced campaign against the deadly practice. Other sources who knew Bett in Tot revealed that the visit by the sleuths, suspected to be members of a squad that is currently conducting an operation to eliminate individuals wanted for the deadly banditry activities in the troubled Kerio Valley, happened during suspected extra-judicial executions of suspected bandits. Last Friday, according to locals in the tension-packed Kerio Valley, a car suspected to be ferrying the security personnel visited Bett's residence but were told by women who were cleaning the Church premises that the priest was not in his house. A resident, Evan Kipkosgei, said the slain priest was profiled after youthful men who claim to be on the list of wanted persons in connection with cattle rustling have been hostile towards non-locals. "Allois preached about peace but in the eyes of people who don't want lasting peace in Kerio Valley for their own selfish reasons, the priest was an enemy," Kipkosgei said. According to Kipkosgei, Bett worked with both security personnel and locals in the Kerio Valley as he preached peace. "There was a time, earlier this month, that Allois celebrated mass with the General Service Unit (GSU) officers in their camp in Tot and suspected bandits told residents that they were not happy with his close working relationship with security agencies. ''They consider the special police units and the DCI as their enemies," the resident said. The priest's killing also took another puzzling twist after locals sided with the Catholic Church in dismissing reports by the police that six suspects were arrested in connection with Bett's killing. Ruto said a meeting was held on Friday afternoon (a day after the killing) and the name of the suspect who killed their priest was given to a local Chief. "The person who killed Allois is well known and has not been arrested. Everyone in Tot knows him and his name, but the name can't be mentioned in public. ''A public meeting was held and his name was given to the area Chief. All eyes are now on the police to arrest him," the teacher and assistant preacher said. Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret John Lelei had on Friday also rejected police reports that Allois' killer had been arrested. Bishop Lelei said authorities should take the banditry menace in Kerio Valley seriously and start telling the country the truth. "Those who were arrested were not the real culprits. We have information that those who killed Allois are walking freely and have not been arrested. ''We have also been informed that the suspects arrested by the police were petty offenders who were loitering during curfew hours, and not suspected murderers of the priest," Lelei said in Eldoret.or banditry." The Office of the Inspector General of Police, in a statement through the National Police Service Spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga had said on Thursday evening: "A manhunt was immediately launched, and six suspects have since been arrested and are currently in custody. Preliminary investigations indicate that the incident is not in any way related to cattle rustling Locals also decried a mass exit of non-locals in the Kerio Valley and asked for government intervention in ending the wave of crime. One non-local working in road construction was killed 10 days ago, making Bett ' fatal shooting the second case this month. Even as the country reels in shock following the killing of Allois on Thursday afternoon, faithful at St Matthias Mulumba Catholic Church where the priest served were still devastated. St Matthias Mulumba Church moderator Stephen Tilem said Bett was an extremely generous man who gave out everything he had including food and money to the poor. According to parishioners, he gave out his mobile phone number to vulnerable people to call when they needed help. Tilem and other church leaders described the priest as an indefatigable priest who knew every corner of the remote areas of Tot and visited vulnerable families. "Aside from Sundays, Allois held Mass within the community every day from Tuesday to Saturday, including the moment he was killed. When he was free, he visited schools to motivate learners. We lack words to describe him. To us, he was not just a priest - he was our brother," said Tilem. Vice moderator Meshack Cheserek said Allois often visited remote areas of the neighbouring Tiaty in Baringo County regardless of the security risks. "He was in the process of requesting the Church for a new parish in Koloa area in the neighbouring Baringo County after his frequent visits to neglected areas where people faced hunger but he had died without achieving his dream. I have seen priests but I have never seen one like Allois because he walked to villages where no one has ever reached," Cheserek said.

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