Military training grounds where locals stare at death

By KARANJA NJOROGE

Nakuru, Kenya: A shooting range used by military officers for training in Gilgil has caused fear and panic among residents, with bullets straying to their homesteads.

The range has exposed locals to danger, some sustaining injuries from projectile fired from the Kenyatta Training Barracks.

Last month, an 18-year-old boy was shot and seriously injured while standing outside a building at Langa Langa trading centre.

Geoffrey Mbiyu was standing outside a barbershop when he was shot on his right leg by a bullet from the military range.

Mbiyu was rushed to Nakuru Provincial General Hospital and admitted for eight days.

And since then, life has never been the same again. The Form Two student at a Nairobi school was an active football player and an athlete who can no longer participate in the activities due to the injury.

And on the same day, the family of Mr Bernard Kairo escaped death narrowly when a bullet shattered windowpanes in his house as his children were playing outside. “I was leaving my house when I heard screams from my children and rushed to find out what was happening. I realised a bullet had hit the house,” Kairo said.

He recorded a statement at the Gilgil Police Station and the spent cartridge was handed over to the officers who visited the scene.

The flying bullets have scared the residents who are now afraid of venturing out of their houses.

Justus Khasiani still bears marks on his right hand following injuries he sustained two years ago from a stray bullet. “I was working in a farm when my colleagues alerted me that blood was dripping from my right hand. I had not realised that I had been shot,” he recalled. The 24-year-old casual labourer was treated at a military hospital and later Gilgil District Hospital.

Khasiani says his efforts to pursue compensation from the Military have not borne fruits despite the incident hindering him from engaging in gainful employment.

He said his bid hit a dead end after a senior military officer who was to follow up the issue was deployed to Somalia.

Residents said whenever the exercise is taking place, they have to take cover and abandon work owing to the awaiting danger as well as the terrifying sounds.

A local leader, Moses Gitonga,  said the range poses major risk to residents and children from neighbouring schools. “We have more than four schools around and the deafening sound has traumatised some of the children,” he said.

Relocate range

Gitonga said the military should relocate the range and set it up in a place where it does not endanger peoples’ lives as well as compensate victims.

He said they have tried to raise the issue with officers in charge of the military barracks in  vain.

A letter by the assistant chief Langa Langa sub location Patrick Osoro addressed  to Major Boen  of the Kenyatta Barracks said the issue should be treated seriously to avoid loss of lives.

The chief stated that residents  have reported finding bullets in their compounds. “A bullet recently hit one of the green houses sending workers scampering for safety. It is important that the issue be taken seriously,” the chief said  in a letter to the military last month.

A senior military officer at the barracks who declined to be named, saying he is not authorised to speak to the media said they had suspended using the facility since last month’s incident. He admitted that they had received complaints from residents and decided to suspend further use of the shooting range.

“We went to the ground and ascertained that the complaints from the residents were genuine,” he added.

On claims for compensation, the officer said only the legal department and headquarters could comment on the issue.