By Bonface Mulyungi
Calm is gradually returning to Kwa Kamari village in Tseikuru sub-county, Kitui County, two days after a deadly inter-community attack left seven people dead, scores injured and several houses torched.
A heavy contingent of General Service Unit (GSU) officers and regular police has been deployed to the area to restore order and prevent further attacks.
Kitui Governor Julius Malombe, while calling for a truce, asked the Interior Ministry to operationalise police stations along the Kitui–Tana River border to prevent a repeat of the clashes.
Officials said retaliatory attacks along the volatile border have left 12 people dead so far.The incident has also drawn political reactions, with Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka demanding answers from the government over the killings.
In a statement dated April 26, Kalonzo said a gang of about 40 heavily armed attackers stormed Kwa Kamari Trading Centre at around 2pm and opened fire on unarmed civilians, killing six men and one woman.
He said the bodies bore gunshot wounds and machete cuts, and that one survivor was fighting for his life in hospital.“This is not merely a tragedy. It is a governance failure of the gravest order,” Kalonzo said.
He questioned how the assailants obtained automatic rifles and moved across county borders “carrying weapons of war”, and claimed the attack was organised and coordinated, with reports indicating the attackers arrived in two unmarked vehicles.
Kalonzo also called out Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, saying he is constitutionally responsible for the security of Kenyans, and questioned why armed men were allowed to move freely through Kitui carrying AK-47 rifles.
He further alleged the attackers, believed to be members of a pastoralist community, had earlier encroached into the Mwingi North Game Reserve and that tensions had been reported.
Kalonzo called for the immediate deployment of adequate security personnel to Tseikuru and the wider Mwingi North region, a full criminal investigation, the arrest and prosecution of those involved, and the disarmament of illegal firearms across Kitui and neighbouring areas.
