VIDEO: 'Uhuru Uko Wapi' TOT Primary School Pupils Mourn the Death of their School Mates
In a viral video seen by this publication, Tot Primary School Children have sent out a painful message to President Uhuru Kenyatta after they lost some of their schoolmates in the bandit attack.
Leah Mukangai In the video, the pupils who had attended a burial narrated their pain through song as they questioned President Uhuru Kenyatta for not being involved in their well-being as they were experiencing bandit attacks in the region.
The children are unequivocal. The bandits have been attacking and killing the majority of them while President Uhuru Kenyatta's government has remained silent.
On May 29, three children and a herder were killed in an attack by bandits in the Tot area, Marakwet sub-county, which also injured six other people.
The victims, two Grade 3 and one Grade 4 students aged nine to eleven, and an adult, died on the spot after the bandits sprayed them with bullets as they fled.
During the raid, the attackers are said to have driven away with an unknown number of livestock, raising tensions in the banditry-prone area.
Mr. Obadiah Sengech, a survivor, said they were herding their animals at Tot when they were ambushed by hundreds of bandits.
“Each armed with guns, they surrounded us before opening fire. I was shot in the legs,” he narrated at MTRH where he is undergoing treatment.
“They (bandits) crossed the border in Kerio River and trekked over 10 kilometers to attack us while we were grazing our animals. The children who were playing nearby were shot too,” Obadiah stated.
Elgeyo Marakwet County Commissioner John Korir, Baringo's Abdirisak Jaldesa, and West Pokot's Apollo Okelo, as well as county police commanders and other security commandants, stated that they were brainstorming solutions to the security crisis.
On May 31, Elgeyo Marakwet Senator, Kipchumba Murkomen came out to address the bandit attack issue in Kerio Valley.
"Tunataka kuskia sauti ya rais, ya Matiang'i, ya Mutyambai kulingana na jinsi ambavyo watakomesha mara moja mambo mabaya yenye inafanyika hapa Kerio Valley haswa hapa Tot," Murkomen stated.
