On Christmas Day mid-morning, a group of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers drove to Chebarus village in Kiplombe in Turbo Constituency, Uasin Gishu County.
Their mission? To survey a piece of land that is in dispute between KDF and the locals.
The same team had been in the area on December 23 and surveyed Kebeswet, Jerusalem and Tanzania area.
Accompanied by police officers from Soy Police Station, the officers from the Kenya Ordinance Factory set off to continue with their work.
But they soon met resistance from residents who left their Christmas lunch to protest the exercise, demanding a stop to it until a court order filed by 30,000 households laying claim to the same 5,000-acre land is heard and determined.
Members of the public at a scene where two people were shot dead at Chebarus village in Kiplombe Location, Uasin Gishu County on December 25, 2021.
A police report and interviews with locals say this standoff started after the KDF team erected a beacon at the Chebarus Primary School, much to the chagrin of the locals.
Police say the locals, angry over invasion in their land, started pelting the officers with stones, demanding that they leave.
At this point, the police report records, the commanding officer at the Kenya Ordinance Factory, arrived, and tried to talk to the locals, who were, however, not ready to listen to him.
‘Necessary force’
It was at this point, now around 3pm, that a reinforcement from 9th Kenya Rifles Battalion at Moi Barracks just nearby was deployed to the scene.
“The officers were forced to use necessary force to leave the school compound where they were held at around 1600hrs,” a police report says of the incident.
By the end of the shootout, Joel Kibet Keter, 53, and Eliud Menjo, 47, lay on the school compound, dead.
For Keter, a bullet had hit him in his left thigh, while Mr Menjo had been badly injured through the mouth, with the bullet exiting through the back of the head.
At the same time, Ms Joan Chepchirchir, 19, and Edwin Kiplimo, 20, had bullet wounds, while Kennedy Kiptarus, 20, had a head injury, caused by a blunt object, police said.
The police report says two cars belonging to KDF were damaged during the fiasco.
“The police officers from Soy Police Station used five rounds of 7.62 mm ordinary, 18 rounds of 7.62 mm blanks and nine tear gas canisters to disperse the locals. The ammunitions expended by the KDF officers is yet to be established,” the police report said.
Details of the fatal shooting at the locals emerged as families of those killed demanded justice and vowed to stay put on the disputed land which, like others on it, they say they bought legally.
At the same time, Parliament yesterday said it was seized of the matter, with Defence and Foreign Relations Committee vice chairman Richard Tong’i saying the land was one of the few that had seen disputes between locals and the KDF.
Mr Tong’i, who is also the Nyaribari Chache MP, co-chairs a joint subcommittee of defence and land committees with her counterpart, Rachel Nyamai of Kitui South.
He said the team will meet again this week on the matter.
“The joint committee between Lands and Defense committees is on a mission to resolve the boundaries dispute between KDF and civilians permanently. We are almost at the tail end of the process,” Mr Tong’i told the Nation.
Members of the public mourn the shooting dead of two people at Chebarus village in Kiplombe Location, Uasin Gishu County on December 25, 2021.
At the disputed land, Mr William Lagat, 70, said the locals bought the parcel from a colonial settler through Oxbridge Farm Limited in 1971, and they have valid documents involved in the sale transactions.
Mr Lagat accused KDF of using intimidations and threats to deny residents what is rightful theirs.
“Harassment and intimidation from KDF officers will not deter us from claiming what belongs to us. We have all legal documents to prove that we legally acquired this property,” said Mr Lagat.
The residents regretted that despite the existence of a court order barring KDF from interfering with activities in the nine farms, KDF refused to obey the law.
Mr Lagat now wants KDF to be sued with contempt of court.
“We are surprised to see our military officers, who are supposed to respect the rule law, disregarding an active court order. They are using force by shooting and killing innocent citizens who were protecting what they legally own,” said Mr Lagat.
Through petition number 11 of 2019, the Eldoret Land and Environment Court is expected to give direction on the matter on February 22,2022.
The land in question is home for 30,000 household members.
The Christmas Day killings in the farm have deprived 14 children of their sole bread earners.
According to bereaved families, the two men met their deaths while conducting their daily activities and were not involved in the confrontation between KDF officers and residents who had gathered at a local primary school.
The family of Mr Menjo said the deceased was a humble man who met his death while looking after his cattle a few metres from Chebarus Primary School where fracas started before the shooting.
“Menjo was a humble man who lived in peace with everybody. May God punish KDF officers who decided to cut his life short on Christmas day,” said Evelyn Ng’esrei, aunt to the deceased.
Ms Ng’esrei appealed to the government to intervene for the family to get justice.
About three kilometers away, we met the family of Mr Kibet, 53, in a somber mood, his widow Dorcas Chepleting yet to come to terms with what happened.
Ms Chepleting said that her husband told him he was going to Chebarus Centre to find out what was happening after military officers were spotted at a local primary school.
“We are yet to believe that he is no more, he was a loving father to our ten children, and he was a man of few words. I am ailing. I don’t know who will take care of these children including our daughter who is a second year student at Moi University,” said Ms Chepleting with tears flowing.
Nelly Chepchirchir,26, the first born to Mr Kibet eulogized her father, as a god fearing man who loved his family— terming his killing as unforgivable sin that she will always remember.
“My father was a cool and a God-fearing man those who killed him will never experience peace in their entire life,” said Ms Chepchirchir
Locals are now going on with burial arrangements as they appeal for help from the government.
Even as locals accuse KDF officers for shooting the two, police have said if the locals would have listened to a plea from a senior KDF officer who pleaded with them to remain calm, the shooting would have been avoided.
According to police, angry residents closed the gate to the school where KDF officers had come to demarcate a boundary.
Police said after closing the gate, the angry residents started pelting the KDF officers with rocks, prompting the military men to open fire in “self defence”.
Local leaders, led by Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago and Turbo MP Janet Sitienei, condemned the incident urging both parties to obey the rule of law.
Ms Sitienei termed the incident as unfortunate as she demanded the government to compensate families that have lost their beloved ones.
Since the incident, KDF has remained silent with no comment on the same.
Messages and calls to KDF spokesperson Col Esther Wanjiku went unanswered yesterday.
Turbo Sub County Police Commander Edward Masibo said investigation is ongoing as he appealed to locals to record statements with police so as to fast-track the case. BY DAILY NATION