26 October 2008
Nairobi — In a few cases, members of the Kikuyu community were able to resist the attacks and even hit back at their attackers.
In Matunda Centre, for example, some 14 - 25 young Kalenjin men were hacked to death after they invaded the area in January 2008 to raid businesses at the centre. They were overpowered by the local residents who killed all of them.
Overall, though, both the police and members of communities perceived to be both foreigners and PNU sympathisers (Kikuyu and Kisii in particular) were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the violence and the number of the attackers.
Those who escaped death ran to seek refuge in places they thought would be safe including churches, police stations, schools, and mosques.
Among these many tragic stories, the incident which captured the attention of both Kenyans and the world was the deliberate burning alive of mostly Kikuyu women and children huddled together in a church in Kiambaa on January 1, 2008.
They had sought refuge in the church following a December 30 attack on their village of Kimuri, bordering Kiambaa.
According to reports, including witness testimony, mattresses and blankets were set ablaze with petrol and thrown into the building while mothers and babies who were trying to flee the inferno were pushed back into the church.
Kikuyu men attempting to defend their church and loved ones were hacked to death with machetes, shot with arrows, or pursued and killed.
Horrific incident
The death toll for this horrific incident was 17 burned alive in the church, 11 dying in or on the way to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, and 54 others injured who were treated and discharged.
One woman who lost her mother in the inferno captured the horror of what happened when she told our investigators that:
"On January 1, 2008 at around 10am, I heard people yelling that some raiders were coming. I saw smoke coming from some houses in our village and the houses were burning.
"Everyone in the village started running away to the church (KAG). My mother who was 90 years old was with me at the time. I decided to take my mother into the church for safety.
"After a few minutes, I saw more raiders coming towards the church... We thought the raiders would not attack the church. Many people were being pushed into the church by the raiders.
"The raiders threw some mattress into the roof of the church and threw more into the church. They were also pouring fuel (petrol) onto the mattresses.
"All of a sudden I saw fire break out. I took my mother toward to [the] main door to get her outside, but there were many others scrambling toward the door as well. We both fell onto the floor.
"I wanted to save my mother from the burning church, but one of the raiders prevented me. I saw the fire had reached where my mother was. I heard her cry for help as the fire burnt her, but I could not help."
An official of the Kiambaa Cooperative Farm, who testified in camera, also confirmed the above account, noting that those who had taken refuge in the church were surrounded on all sides and adding that when the "raiders" reached the church: "they started throwing stones, arrows and forcing children, women, and old ones in the church.
"They took all mattresses pouring petrol on and laying some at the roof, against the wall and at the doors and set ablaze so all men trying to come outside were killed.
"Others escaped [and] survived with major cuts and inside were so many dead and others burned beyond recognition and some escaped severely burned... I saw many that I had known for many years but the constitution of this country was made for Kalenjin because they are able to kill, burn houses and also to loot livestock and there is no law to prosecute them."
Although many attempts were made to quell the violence in Uasin Gishu District, the testimony of Government officials to the Commission is that it continued.
The Commission was informed that this particular incident is now the subject of a court trial (Nakuru High Court Criminal Case No 34 of 2008 [Republic v Stephen Leting and 3 others]) and four persons have been charged with eight counts of murder.
Received evidence
According to officials, violence did not abate until the peace accord between the two political aspirants for the presidency, Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, was signed in Nairobi, but even after this, according to the DC Bernard Kinyua, they still continued to experience all sorts of incidents.
The Commission also received evidence on the nature and extent of violence in the areas contiguous to Uasin Gishu, including Nandi North and Nandi South Districts.
In his sworn testimony, the former DC for Nandi North, Mabeya Mogaka, told the Commission that there had been tension in the district for some time, in part the result of Luhyas having bought land in Kapkangani, Kipkaren, and Chepkumia, as well as two Luhya candidates having been cleared to contest a parliamentary seat, something that was not accepted by prominent Nandi personalities in the district.
He also noted that the administration had expected trouble including violence if either Luhya candidate won the election.
According to the DC, violence erupted immediately after the presidential results were announced on December 30, but had already started before then on December 29.
Overall the violence led to 1,475 homes being burned and destroyed and 7,800 people being displaced. Even though one person died in the end only 12 individuals were arrested despite all the violence and destruction.
Violence was directed at PNU supporters, government departments and houses, and the ethnically mixed Baraton University, with the worst destruction occurring after the newly elected MP for Ainamoi was shot dead on January 31, 2008.
Quell violence
The Commission was also told that at the height of the violence, the provincial administration allowed a demonstration of 70,000 individuals from Nandi North and South to take place in Kapsabet, after having engaged with 12 Nandi elders to ensure that it was peaceful.
The mere idea of a large demonstration was threatening enough to the displaced to make many of them move to the police station for safety, while numerous Kikuyu and Kisii asked for assistance to leave, something we were told the district administration helped them do. 8,000 IDPs who had taken refuge in the Kapsabet police station and others in the Kabiyet police station were also being threatened and therefore were moved.
According to DC Kinyua and SSP Karuru, 205 people died in the post-election violence in the Uasin Gishu district. 167 of them have been identified while 38 remain unidentified in the mortuary.
Among those who died were an Administration Police Officer, Ewafula Wakhungu and a District Officer (DO). Both were killed in Cheptiret near the Chebii Primary School as they were attempting to quell violence at an illegal road block on January 1, 2008.
From other witness testimony, mortuary records and other sources, including the evidence of the Director of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital Prof Harun Mengech, the Commission was however able to determine that 272 persons died in the post election violence in Uasin Gishu District.
The Casualty Section of the hospital recorded 521 victims of post-election violence. 50% were Kikuyu, 22% Kalenjin, 4% Luo, 9% Kisii and Luhya and 10% other tribes. The majority of these were young people.
161 of these were admitted while the rest were treated and discharged. Of those admitted 36 died from their injuries. The police brought another 107 bodies into the hospital's mortuary, while the Kenya Red Cross brought 20.
The total number of deaths recorded at the hospital was therefore 163. Out of the 127 bodies received from outside the hospital, Langas had the highest number of deaths followed by Kiambaa.
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