Suspected Pokot bandits attack school in Elgeyo-Marakwet, steal cows

Police officers patrol Kabetwa in Elgeyo-Marakwet County on January 30, 2017. Suspected Pokot bandits on February 1, 2017 sprayed classrooms in Chesetan and Kibaimwa with bullets and made away with school livestock. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Some school workers made frantic attempts to drive school cows inside classrooms and staff houses.
  • But the rustlers caught up with them and made away with the animals.
  • IEBC officials registering voters had also to scamper for safety.
  • No one was injured in the bandit attack.

Learners and teachers in two schools in Elgeyo-Marakwet County in Kerio Valley were on Wednesday forced to scamper for safety after armed suspected Pokot bandits sprayed classrooms with bullets and made away with school livestock.

Some school workers made frantic attempts to drive school cows inside classrooms and staff houses to avert the crisis but were unsuccessful after the rustlers caught up with them as they sprayed bullets.

St Mary’s Mon Deputy Principal Wilson Cherop, whose school bore the brunt of the raid, said teachers locked themselves in the staffroom as their learners lay down in classrooms to dodge bullets.

The deafening gunshots that rent the air for the better part of Wednesday not only paralysed learning in Chesetan and Kibaimwa locations but also the ongoing voter registration.

“They have driven off all the school livestock,” said Mr Cherop while speaking to the Nation amid deafening gunfire.

Some teachers who had moved their own livestock from the vulnerable areas to the school compound for safety lost everything to the rustlers.

“Everything is gone. Beside dozens of cows, all the 60 goats and sheep that were here are gone,” said one teacher.

VOTER REGISTRATION DISRUPTED

Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) officials who were registering voters also scampered for safety.

Following the attack, contingents of police officers and Deputy County Commissioner Eric Mlevu visited the school compound.

Villagers joined the police to pursue the raiders in the hope of recovering the stolen animals. They were, however, unsuccessful.

“It is not easy to recover livestock driven away by these people. We thank God there are no casualties but we have lost all the livestock,” said Juliana Kirop, a resident.

The attack came barely three days after a police reservist was killed by suspected bandits in Kerio Valley on Sunday evening.

The officer’s firearm was recovered in Tiatty Constituency, Baringo County.