Maseno university student attacked by gang

A Maseno University student was on Tuesday night attacked by an unknown group of boys that chased him for over a Kilometer during the showers that had lasted over two hours.

Kelvin Ruto was going back to his residence after being with his friends at the institution’s Tsunami hostels where light showers from late in the afternoon meant he could not leave until late on.

“These guys have chased me all the way from Maseno Polytechnic and disappeared when we approached the security light down there,” Ruto said while panting as a crowd gathered to listen to what he was saying.

“They had machetes and wanted to kill me. I dropped my phone and everything I had on me in the hope that they will stop but they couldn’t. Two of them continued pursuing me even after their friends had stopped. They just wanted to kill me,” he said.

Students living outside of the equator-based institution have been a long-term target for organized gangs in the locality.

Many of them have been robbed valuables from time to time and others even harmed physically as the gangs turn on them many at times even after taking what they had.

Phones, Laptops and other electronic gadgets have been taken from helpless students who are usually caught unawares and have nothing to do in self-defense.

Most reported cases have been happening on weekends and during the midweek especially when there are football matches like the European Champions League as most students stay out late into the night to watch the matches and trek back to their houses way past midnight.

The students have been on the rampages in the past to try and have the University administration to build more hostels to accommodate more students.

The university administration has done its best to advise the students on precautionary measures but the attacks happen in the most mysterious ways possible and when no one is expecting.

Some of the students who lose their valuables to the gangs either in their hostels or on the routes around Maseno do not get to report to the administration or the police for unknown reasons.

The students also faulted Maseno Police Station for not providing adequate security to the locality with many saying the police should carry the blame.

With the ongoing rainy season and the end of the lecturers' strike, it appears the gangs are on the rise and are sadly picking up from where they left.

The installation of security lights by the World Bank project to rural areas has helped reduce the cases greatly but the menace is never wiped out.

Students should stay safe and report any form of suspicious activity by the locals to prevent any further damages. The relation with the locals should meanwhile be improved to heal the omnipresent hostility that the locals have towards the students.