• A total of 283 animals stolen by bandits this week alone.
• Residents blame their tribulations on the government.
Image: JOSEPH KANGOGO
Baringo residents are at the mercy of bandits after the government withdrew guns from the National Police Reservists (NPR) a week ago.
On Sunday, suspected Pokot bandits raided Kasiela village in Baringo South and drove away 33 head of cattle after injuring herder Haron Barkorton.
“The victim is nursing a gunshot injury in the leg at the county referral hospital in Kabarnet,” Chebinyiny location chief Samuel Waseges told the Star on Tuesday.
Waseges said the animals were driven towards Chepkalacha in the neighbouring Tiaty.
The previous day, other bandits raided Kapsebeiwa village in Loruk, Baringo North, drove away Talaa Cheptoo's 50 goats.
Loruk sub-location assistant chief Samuel Kamuren said none of the animals had been recovered. He blamed the raid on the government for withdrawing the NPR.
“The NPR, most of them, locals used to conduct regular border security patrols and helped us to recover stolen animals,” Kamuren said.
He accused his counterparts in Tiaty for not cooperating to give information on where the bandits were hiding.
More than 300 families have fled the volatile region for fear of attack by bandits who regularly threaten them with attacks.
On Tuesday, transport was suspended along Marigat-Chemolingot road after residents barricaded highway at Loruk demanding their 200 goats stolen by bandits at Kagir in Baringo North.
“The over 100 bandits ambushed various villages and shot in the air to scare away villagers before breaking into homesteads and stealing the animals,” Yatya chief Jackson Keitany said.
There more than 300 youth and women barricaded the road with boulders chanting ‘haki yetu’.
They appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i to intervene and calm the situation.
"We are finished. For how long will these bandits continue to kill us so that the government can come to our rescue? Simon Chongwo asked.
A week ago, county commissioner Henry Wafula led security officials in the repossession of guns from NPR in the Baringo subcounties.
“All the guns were withdrawn but we still wonder where our fellows in Tiaty acquired the firearms to attack our armless people,” Joseph Chesang said.
Tiaty MP William Kamket on Monday said he is ready to lead his people to stop the attacks and produce the culprits “only if my colleagues in the neighbouring communities stop inciting utterances".
His Baringo North and Baringo South counterparts William Cheptumo and Charles Kamuren respectively had earlier accused Kamket of failing to expose those behind the attacks.
County Commissioner Henry Wafula defended the withdrawal of guns from the NPR, saying “we can now purse the real bandits without hurting innocent residents”.