{"id":915454,"date":"2022-01-11T21:19:12","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T21:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/news\/2022\/01\/11\/scarred-for-life-women-trek-in-search-of-peace-in-kerio-valley\/"},"modified":"2022-01-11T21:19:12","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T21:19:12","slug":"scarred-for-life-women-trek-in-search-of-peace-in-kerio-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/01\/11\/scarred-for-life-women-trek-in-search-of-peace-in-kerio-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Scarred for life, women trek in search of peace in Kerio Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"card-text\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"art-img row mx-md-0\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/lwh1jkjs0w67f61ddbd3d700ef.jpg\" class=\"img-fluid w-100\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"bg-light mb-3 p-3 row mx-md-0\">\n<p><strong>Women In Marakwet during a peace demonstration\u00a0on January 11, 2022<\/strong>. [Christopher Kipsang, Standard]\n<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Women in Kerio Valley trekked 20 kilometres to demand the transfer of security officials in the volatile area over security lapses. <\/p>\n<p>Kerio Valley has witnessed cattle rustling and bandit attacks for decades, resulting into deaths and loss of propriety.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>The protesters, who included widows, walked to Marakwet East Deputy County Commissioner Simon Osumba\u2019s office in Chesoi.<\/p>\n<p>They threatened to stage another march from the troubled area to State House, Nairobi, to ask President Uhuru Kenyatta to address insecurity in Kerio Valley.\n<\/p>\n<p>Since June last year, deadly attacks in the area have resulted into more than 50 deaths.\n<\/p>\n<p><div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"Iayais6RWKo\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A deadly Adventure: Why traveling along Kerio Valley highway is like signing death warrant\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Iayais6RWKo?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>The Monday protests were the third in the last three months. In October, hundreds of locals protested in Liter after a woman and her two children and an agricultural officer were killed.\n<\/p>\n<p>Another demonstration took place in November after four herders were shot dead.\n<\/p>\n<p>They demanded the transfer of senior security and administration officials in Elgeyo Marakwet, saying that they had failed to contain the situation.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYoung men are killed in villages but security apparatus claim they are shot dead along the borders in River Kerio. It is no longer cattle rustling because a woman and her two children who were harvesting millet in Liter were shot dead,\u201d Rosemary Cheboi, a widow, said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Ms Cheboi said they braved hot sun in their walk from Sambalat to Chesoi to present their grievances to the government. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were gunshots as we marched to the sub-county headquarters, but we were determined to present our complaints to the government,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Extent of attacks<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201cWe are tired of children asking us where their fathers (who were killed in banditry attacks) are. Many children in Kerio Valley have no fathers.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>Local leaders who accompanied the protesting women claimed that President Kenyatta was not being briefed on the extent of the Kerio Valley attacks.\n<\/p>\n<p>Elgeyo Marakwet Deputy Governor Wisley Rotich faulted security agencies for failing to act firmly against bandits.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>Rotich has highlighted 21 short and long-term solutions that if implemented, he says, will stem the menace.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen, for example, a Kenyan in Nairobi is killed in Nairobi, the suspects are arrested and prosecuted. But when it comes to Kerio Valley, elected leaders are told to dialogue with bandits. How can I speak with an armed criminal? The government has a solution,\u201d Mr Rotich said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Woman Rep Jane Chebaibai said she will lead a peaceful walk to State House to ask the President to order the security apparatus to end the killings.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are proceeding to State House if the local security officials fail to act,\u201d Chebaibai said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Nominated MCA Neddy Kiptoo said it is puzzling that tens of people have been killed in less than a year, yet no suspect has been arrested and prosecuted.\n<\/p>\n<p>Ms Kiptoo said top security bosses in Elgeyo Marakwet and neighbouring counties have failed in their role of protecting Kenyans and their property.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are asking the President to tour Kerio Valley and personally assess the damages caused by banditry attacks because it appears like he is not adequately briefed by security officers on the ground. Many people are dying,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Osumba, the Marakwet East Deputy County Commissioner, said 60 people had been killed in Kerio Valley banditry attacks since June.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI apologide if there is a mistake we have done on our side (as security agencies),\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n<p>He said the attacks escalated after youth from warring communities engaged in retaliatory attacks.\n<\/p>\n<p>Kerio Valley cuts across three counties of Elgeyo Marakwet, Baringo and West Pokot.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.standardmedia.co.ke\/article\/2001434126\/scarred-for-life-women-trek-in-search-of-peace-in-kerio-valley\">Source: The Standard Media Kenya<\/a> <a \"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Women In Marakwet during a peace demonstration\u00a0on January 11, 2022. [Christopher Kipsang, Standard] Women in Kerio Valley trekked 20 kilometres to demand the transfer of security officials in the volatile area over security lapses. Kerio Valley has witnessed cattle rustling and bandit attacks for decades, resulting into deaths and loss of propriety.\u00a0 The protesters, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}