Teachers’ unions urge closure of 50 Kerio valley schools over violence
Bernadine Kipruto fourth (right), Chairperson of Uasin Gishu County Civil Society Network, Rev. Samuel Kiptanui fourth (left), Chairman National Council of Churches of Kenya for Elgeyo Marakwet County, and other members of the civil society hold hands in solidarity against persistent armed banditry attacks in Kerio Valley, during a press conference in Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu County on May 31, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Knut and Kuppet have asked teachers and learners to keep away from schools until the government addresses security concerns.
- The Sunday killings brought to 109 the number of people who have been gunned down by bandits in Elgeyo Marakwet in the past six months, police records show.
Pressure is mounting on the government to end the ongoing killings in the Kerio Valley as a result of unrelenting banditry and cattle raids.
It happens as the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) asked teachers and learners to keep away from schools until the government addresses security concerns.
The teachers’ unions have demanded that 50 schools in the region be shut down until security is restored. It follows the killings of three learners and a herder by bandits in Tot, Marakwet sub-county on Sunday.
The victims – two pupils in Grade Three and one in Grade Four, aged between nine and 11, and the adult – died on the spot when bandits sprayed bullets on them as they fled a gun fight.
Hospitalised
Five of the injured were still being treated at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, in Uasin Gishu County, after the Sunday afternoon attack.
Medics at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret attend to Shadrack Kirop who survived the Sunday attack by bandits in Tot, Marakwet East.
The killings brought to 109 the number of people who have been gunned down by bandits in Elgeyo Marakwet in the past six months, police records show.
On Tuesday, North Rift leaders and civil society groups accused the government of lethargy.
Knut officials in Elgeyo Marakwet have demanded that schools in the affected areas be closed, citing the safety of learners and teachers.
“Unless you are bulletproof, do not go to school. The government is playing with the lives of people in Kerio Valley and it has reached a point of closing the schools to save lives. We have lost several teachers as well as learners and the government are not moved,” protested Elgeyo Marakwet Knut executive secretary John Cheberi.
Teacher buried
He said before the schools broke for half term, they had buried a teacher killed on the Tot-Chesongoch road as he was heading home from work.
“Chances of one being hit by a bandit bullet in Kerio Valley are very high. It is now a matter of when, not if, and unless proactive measures are put in place, let the school remain shut because the learning environment is not safe and also the roads are ruled by the gangsters,” he said.
His Kuppet counterpart Paul Biwott said the government should be held to account for the killings.
“The government has abdicated its constitutional role of protecting life and property. The blood of innocent children and adults killed in the region is in the hands of the relevant bodies who failed to discharge their mandate and curb the deaths,” he said.
Noreb concerned
Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago, who is also the North Rift Economic Bloc (Noreb) chairman, regretted the escalating insecurity, saying it has destabilised the region and the government has not treated the issue with the seriousness it deserves.
“What we are witnessing in Kerio Valley at the moment is regrettable. The government is not doing what is expected of it and bandits are now ruling the region, killing and maiming locals,” he said.
“It is even more disturbing when children are killed. The buck stops with President Uhuru Kenyatta and Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i.”
He said the government should address the insecurity because nothing meaningful is happening in the region.
“Several projects being undertaken by various agencies have stalled and poverty is steadily creeping back,” he said.
Senator Murkomen's take
Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen accused the government of being silent over the killings of the three children and preceding incidents.
“Compared to how the government has handled killings in other areas and in Kerio Valley, the latter has never got any attention,” he said.
“Each time there are killings, leaders from the affected region are asked to go back and talk to their people instead of sending the government machinery to deal with the perpetrators.”
Civil society speak
The Uasin Gishu Civil Society Network said the situation was dire and would worsen if the government did not act quickly to contain it.
He said a large swath of “border land is now deserted and is ruled by bandits, who cause mayhem”.
“The expansion is increasing because people are fleeing from their homes on a daily basis,” said the network’s chairperson, Ms Bernadine Kipruto, in Eldoret on Monday.
“The atrocities have increased in the past three months and the government should stop the heinous attacks.”
She said the government should use its constitutional powers to rein in the perpetrators so that people can return to their normal lives.
Locals have staged a series of protests to press the government to act immediately and end the Kerio Valley killings.
Three county commissioners were on Monday holed up in an emergency security meeting with police commanders and other security chiefs in the region to brainstorm on how to address the security crisis.
Mr Korir, Baringo's Abdirisak Jaldesa and West Pokot's Apollo Okelo attended the meeting.
