One person died while seven others were injured following fresh clashes at Melelo and Olokruto wards of Narok County.
Confirming the incident yesterday, Narok County Commissioner George Natembeya said the body of the middle-aged man from Melelo ward was found lying at the Maasai Mau forest over the weekend where he was grazing his livestock and seven cows stolen.
Natembeya said a contingent of security officers drawn from Kenya Forest Service (KFS), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Administration Police and County Rangers followed the missing cows and managed to recover them on Monday.
“The county government gave us a chopper to look for the stolen cows. We managed to find all the seven cows at Sogoo area, 40 Kilometers from the location where the cows had been stolen,” he said.
However, after recovering the seven cows, 27 other cows were reported stolen from the neigbouring Sogoo ward in Narok South Sub County triggering tension in the area.
The security team led by area Deputy County Commissioner Charles Mukele followed the stolen animals last night with the aim of recovering them to Olokruto village as they had information that the vehicles had been driven to that direction, said Natembeya.
But the residents of Olokruto village did not take it lightly to see armed security team and a number of strangers invading their village at late hours.
“Olokruto resident before knowing why the strangers had come to their village started attacking them with bows, arrows, machetes and pangas and in the process injured seven people,” narrated Natembeya.
According to Natembeya, the seven injured were rushed to Narok County Referral Hospital where three were treated and discharged while four are undergoing treatment in the same facility.
Following the on and off clashes experienced in areas bordering Maasai Mau Forest, Natembeya said they will request for an Anti- Stock Theft Police Unit in the area who will be following stolen animals to avoid such confrontation.
“We have realized there is a gap that needs to be filled, following stolen livestock is not the work of wananchi,” he said.
The owner of the stolen animals Thomas Bygon said his animals were stolen by unknown persons while grazing in the forest land.
“Twenty seven cows and one donkey were stolen leaving behind three calves. We have been following the lost animals without success,” he said.
Last year, the areas experienced on and off clashes when members of two communities living in the area conflicted.
The conflicts saw several persons left nursing injuries and hundreds of houses burnt in Nkoben, Nkarretta, Melelo and Olposimoru parts of Narok County.
Security agencies led by Rift Valley Regional Commissioner Mongo Chimwanga visited the troubled area and held peace meetings between the two communities at Oloruasi Primary school grounds where elders from both communities held “Handshake” vowing to live peacefully.
By Ann Salaton
