Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen is set to hold a crucial meeting this week with elected leaders from Kisii and Narok counties to address the ongoing clashes along the Transmara border.
At least three people have been killed since youths from the Kisii and Maasai communities living along the volatile border began fighting a week ago over cattle theft.
The latest victim, a 23-year-old man from Nyamondo Village in South Mugirango, succumbed to arrow injuries at Kenyanya Level 4 Hospital on Saturday evening following intense fighting at the Nyagenke borderline.
It has emerged that CS Murkomen has convened a meeting with key stakeholders from the two neighboring counties to find a lasting solution to the violence.
“I have convened a meeting with leaders from Narok and Kisii to find a lasting solution and restore peace in the affected areas,” Murkomen said on Sunday.
The CS urged locals to embrace dialogue in resolving any disputes that may have triggered the clashes, emphasising the government’s commitment to restoring peace.
“We have deployed enough officers to contain the situation even as we engage leaders in finding a lasting resolution,” he added.
The ongoing clashes threaten to escalate into full-blown ethnic skirmishes if security agents and stakeholders do not swiftly intervene.
The economic situation in the affected areas has already been severely disrupted, with vast sugarcane plantations on both sides burned down over the past week.
Both communities rely on cross-border farming, ranging from subsistence agriculture to large-scale commercial cultivation of maize, horticultural crops, and wheat.
With the farming ecosystem now in disarray, locals who were preparing for the March planting season are unable to access their farms.
Most maize farmers had harvested their crops a few weeks ago before the clashes erupted, though some suffered losses after being unable to reach their farms in Mapashi, Kiango, Nyabitunwa, Nyagenke, and Mesocho.
Police officers have unsuccessfully been restraining the youths from engaging in war over the last one week, with clashes breaking out now and then.
