MP survives bandit attack on campaign trail
Marakwet East MP Kangogo Bowen (in white vest) armed with bows and arrows, and some residents look for people who were injured following a banditry attack that happened while he was holding a campaign meeting on Wednesday April 6, 2022 afternoon.
What you need to know:
- The injured were evacuated and referred to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret.
- Elgeyo Marakwet leaders have recently petitioned the government to deploy more police reservists to complement regular security officers.
Marakwet East MP Kangogo Bowen and hundreds of locals on Wednesday afternoon survived a bandit attack that left two people seriously injured.
They were ambushed on the campaign trail by hundreds of bandits suspected to be from a neighbouring county. The assailants opened fire, injuring the two people.
The MP and his entourage scampered for safety, hiding in the nearby rocks as the bandits continued firing indiscriminately.
In the 30-minute siege, Mr Stephen Rotich, 38, and Mr Evans Cheserek,19, suffered serious injuries in the legs and left jaw respectively.
“It was the rocks that gave us cover and helped us escape a massacre. There was gunfire from all directions and it is by the grace of God that we survived,” the MP told the Nation by phone.
Marakwet East MP Kangogo Bowen in (a white vest) after the Wednesday banditry attack of his campaign meeting at Kapetwa area in the constituency.
He said the political meeting was just starting with a word of prayer when hell broke loose and everyone ran in different directions.
“Police came late after I made frantic calls. GSU officers were dispatched and ended the siege. We are calling on the government to deploy police reservists down here because they are always with locals,” he said.
Injured
Marakwet East Deputy County Commander Simeon Osumba said the injured were evacuated and referred to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret.
“Police have been deployed to the area and we are optimistic calm will be restored,” he said.
Mr Bowen claimed more than 100 people had been killed in the region in the past six months.
Leaders appeal
Last month, Elgeyo Marakwet leaders petitioned the government to deploy more police reservists to complement regular security officers.
Their appeal followed a government announcement that it had deployed an additional 80 reservists to Mochongoi in Baringo County following a wave of bandit attacks in the area.
Marakwet West MP William Kisang said recently that since the government disbanded the police reservists in 2019, an unprecedented series of attacks had been reported in the region.
“The government deployed a handful of police reservists but we need the number increased to over 100 officers so that at least each sub-location gets no less than four each. With this we are sure of reducing the increasing spate of attacks,” he said at the time.
