The Bura MP, Ali Wario has condemned the killing of a herder and a female relative in Ruka Kora area at the border between Kitui and Tana River counties.
According to the deceased brother, Deria Musa Ahmed, a resident of Bangale, the victim was herding the family’s goats together with a 14-year-old girl relative when about 8 men armed with bows and arrows struck at around 4pm on Sunday.
The attackers quickly rounded up 50 goats and as they were driving them away, Ibrahim Ahmed Ali, 44, tried to intercept them, but was he shot at the back with a poisoned arrow.
The herders managed to drive away the 50 goats together with the girl, whom unconfirmed reports say they later killed and dumped her badly mutilated body in a nearby thicket. By Monday, the goats had not been recovered.
Addressing the press at the Garissa referral hospital, Musa said that on receiving the news of the attack, they immediately moved to the scene in two private vehicles.
On arrival they found his brother badly injured and writhing in pain. They removed the arrow that was stuck in his body and drove back with him to Bangale where medics at a local dispensary administered first before he was taken to Garissa referral hospital for specialized treatment. They reported the matter at Bangale police station.
He said a search party that was left behind later found the girl’s body after crossing a flooded seasonal river and because they could cross back with it, they decided to bury her remains at the scene.
Dr. Amos Siwo, a surgeon attached to the Garissa referral hospital who attended to the deceased said the Ibrahim died from the poison in the arrow.
“We received the patient 16 hours after he was shot. By the time he was brought in, he was in a very bad shape,” Dr. Siwo said.
“It took us about four hours to stabilize him before he moved to the theatre for surgery. The arrow pierced through the back and raptured the large intestines,” he added.
The victim was transferred to the ICU when his condition worsened but he passed on at around 4am on Monday morning.
Wario linked the killing to protracted border dispute between Tana River and Kitui counties.
“Although we are linking this death to the unresolved disputed border between Kitui and Tana River, taking of innocent lives of any Kenyan citizen whose only crime was grazing his animals at a disputed area is criminal,” Wario said.
“I am urging the security agencies to move with speed and restore peace in the area and then carry out a thorough investigation into the incident and ensure those behind it are apprehended and charged accordingly,” he added.
The MP accused the national government administrative officers of meddling with the disputed borders.
“Disputes to do with boundaries is the work of the IEBC and Parliament. Continued meddling by the former provincial administration officers who openly takes sides is to blame for the protracted dispute,” Wario.
“I want to use this opportunity to once again urge the IEBC and the relevant Parliamentary committees to urgently take up this matter and resolve it once and for all. They should involve communities and from both sides together with their leaders, something the government officials have ignored in the past,” he said.
He expressed his fear that there is the risk of losing more lives if the communities start revenging and counter revenging.
“I am calling on the residents of Tana River to remain calm and allow the government to investigate the matter and desist from taking revenge,” he said.
The body was released to the relatives for burial in Bangale, about 90 kms from Garissa town in accordance to Islamic interment rites.
By Jacob Songok
