Steve Mkawale
5 January 2008
Nairobi — The decision by the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) to declare President Kibaki winner of the 2007 General Election has triggered a wave of violence in South and Central Rift.
The violence has left more than 50 people dead, houses torched, and property worth billions of shillings destroyed.
At least eight people were killed overnight in Nakuru town following the outbreak of violence between police, looters and political leaders.
Separate clashes in Molo, Njoro, and Kuresoi claimed a further 15 lives and forced thousands to flee their homes for fear of more attacks.
Women and children bore the brunt of this violence and were camping in churches, schools, and police stations without food, water and beddings.
The bloody riots erupted swiftly on Sunday afternoon after the announcement of fraudulent poll results.
In Molo and Kuresoi, the announcement triggered an old rivalry between members of two communities.
"We were victims of the tribal clashes that claimed some 20 lives in Kuresoi recently. Hardly a month has passed and we are again caught up in another round of skirmishes," said Daniel Arasa, a farmer displaced from his farm at Muchorwe in Kuresoi.
In Molo town, where majority of the residents are from one community, rioters targeted this group.
The attack in Molo triggered a series of attacks in Keringet, Mau Narok, and Mauche areas.
Hundreds of houses were torched, property destroyed, and at least two people killed.
Hundreds of frightened villagers fled their homes and sought refuge in churches, schools, and police stations as the violence escalated.
At Keringet trading centre, houses, shops and business premises were set ablaze.
The situation worsened on Monday as more houses were torched in Sirikwa, Nyakinyua, Ngenia and Muchorwe.
Inadequate security personnel also contributed to the violence spreading from one village to another as rioters erected illegal roadblocks on roads leading to Olenguruone Township.
By Tuesday afternoon, more than 30 houses had been torched in Molo and Kuresoi, and thousands displaced. The violence in Kuresoi did not spare even the Provincial Administration officers whose houses were burnt. The violence spread to Ndeffo where a shopping centre was burned down.
The rioters looted shops and houses at Ndeffo before burning them.
They later erected an illegal roadblock along the Njoro-Mau Narok road and stoned motorists who attempted to force their way through.
In Nakuru, the violence broke out in the sprawling Kaptembwo and Ponda Mali slums where seven people were killed and property worth millions of shillings destroyed.
Twenty-four other people were seriously injured and admitted to the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital for treatment.
Two famous nightclubs along Kanu Street were torched and tens of shops and supermarkets looted in several residential estates as tension rose throughout Sunday night.
A vehicle belonging to Pastor Mike Brawan, an ODM parliamentary candidate for Nakuru Town who lost in the elections was also burnt, another vandalised and his church looted.
Armed police patrolled the town and estates and at some point had to shoot in the air to disperse rowdy mobs.
Rift Valley Deputy Provincial Police Office, Mr Joseph Nguluwi, said they had arrested more than 100 people in connection with the violence.
"Breaking into and looting shops and other businesses is a crime, and we will deal with it as such," he said.
At Kwa Rhoda estate, residents found four bodies that had been hacked to death that fateful morning.
According to the residents, the four had wounds, suspected to have been inflicted by blunt objects.
"We woke up and found four people dead. They were cut all over their bodies," said the residents.
They said the police took away the bodies in the morning. Another body that had gunshot wounds was still lying at Checkpoint area within the estate when The Saturday Standard visited the scene on Monday morning. In Ponda Mali area, two people were shot as they looted.
But Nakuru OCPD, Mr Stephen Munguti, said only three people had been killed.
Along Kanu Street, Lule's nightclub was torched as hundreds of residents took to the streets to celebrate President Kibaki's controversial re-election.
The residents who were chanting pro-PNU slogans thronged the streets before anti-riot police dispersed them when the club caught fire.
The fire spread into the neighbouring Summerland Club reducing it into a shell.
Brawan told The Saturday Standard that his Mercedes Benz was torched outside his Metro Church at 8pm. "People vandalised another Peugeot before breaking into the church where they stole our sound systems," he said. At Ponda Mali and Rhoda estates, tens of shops and supermarkets were looted. Kiosks and timber yards were burnt and several buildings were vandalised.
At Kaptembwa estate, anti-riot police had to fire several times in the air throughout the night to disperse a rowdy crowd. Security personnel patrolled the estate to prevent riots.
In the South Rift region, rioters torched 30 government offices, a van, and police quarters in the five days of the post-election violence.
Local provincial administrators and senior government officers who campaigned for the Party of National Unity were targeted in Bomet, Bureti, Kericho, Sotik and Kipkelion districts.
Konoin District Officer's office at Mogogosiek trading centre in Bureti District was burnt.
Rioters set on fire the administration police officers' quarters, which were adjacent to the DO's office.
A van belonging to The Standard Group was torched at Kaplong trading centre in Sotik. The driver of the van took off with a mob in pursuit.
The vehicle, which was transporting newspapers from Nairobi to Kisii, was overturned and torched as the driver sought refuge at Sotik Police Station.
All major roads in and out of Kericho, Bomet, Bureti, Sotik, and Kipkelion districts remained barricaded as public service vehicles were grounded.
In Kericho town, 31 bodies of victims of the post-election violence were lying at a local mortuary.
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