Lamu Governor Fahim Twaha has condemned the brutal murder of a chief and his assistant chief in Faza location within the Lamu archipelago Wednesday afternoon.
Speaking to journalists in Malindi, Mr. Twaha urged security officers to search for and bring to book the perpetrators of the heinous act that occurred at Mbwajumali village.
The governor sent a message of condolences to the families, relatives and friends of the two administrators, who were killed in cold blood in the chief’s office in Faza Island.
Mr. Twaha said the area was notorious for hosting drug dealers, who he said could have killed the chief and his assistant.
“The village is known for hosting people who sell poison. I do not call what they sell narcotic drugs but poison, which is being sold by ignorant people who will find themselves in trouble one day,” he said.
Mr. Twaha, who has been attending the two-day Jumuiya Agribusiness and Blue Economy Investment Conference (JABEIC) in Malindi said the chiefs were humble civil servants doing their work and should not have been killed.
Mr. Twaha said about two years ago, another chief was killed in the area and the suspected killers were drug peddlers.
He however defended the government over the insecurity in the area, saying the problem was not the lack of adequate security personnel.
“The problem is that these people have become so brutal that people fear testifying in court for fear of reprisals, just as it used to happen during the Mungiki menace in Central Kenya,” he said.
To tackle the problem, the government needed to employ innovative ways of handling it and not necessarily increasing the number of security officers, he said.
Early this year, 25-year old Amina Bakari, Red Cross volunteer, was murdered in cold blood in the same village.
It is believed that in Mbwajumali, Tchindwa and Faza, many murders have been attributed to revenge on people the gangs suspect to be providing information about their criminal activities to the authorities.
By Emmanuel Masha
