Arrest Malava chief arsonists, NGAO demands as Kabras police chiefs transferred

The National Government Administration Officers (NGAO) leadership has called for the quick arrest of those involved in razing the house of a local assistant chief in Malava, Kakamega County.

The leadership led by its Senior Principal Chief from Garissa county, on behalf of Principal Chiefs Kenya Abdi Yusuf, spoke while addressing the local administration and police who visited the home of Malanga assistant chief Meshack Kataka, whose homestead was burnt by irked members of the public following the killing of two cattle businessmen in the area.

The two are said to have been mistaken for cattle thieves before they met their brutal death.

The two cattle traders later succumbed to their injuries at Malava sub county hospital sparking off anger from the relatives and fellow traders.

The irate public would then ferry the bodies to the homestead of the assistant chief and later razed his houses and vandalized property.

The assistant chief is being accused of ordering for the mob killing of the two despite his fellow assistant chief from Fubuye where the two hailed from who is said to have confirmed that they were only livestock traders and hence should be allowed to proceed.

Kataka who is the area assistant chief where the two were accosted is being blamed for their deaths.  

The senior chief Principal further called for justice to the affected assistant chief and insisted that such incidences should not be experienced in the future.

He also pushed for the local administration to register in the Chiefs Welfare forum that has already 5,000 of them on the platform.

Yusuf observed that being members of such platforms, they will be able to get assistance in times of need.

“We have both a national and sub county chiefs’ welfare groups that caters for our needs as local administration and it is my wish that we all join on this forum for recognition and possible assistance,” he said.

He however criticised the poor working relationship between the security details and the local administration that led to the recent incident witnessed.

At the same time, he poked holes in the political interference in the promotions of local administration countrywide.

“There’s a lot of politics, in the employment and promotion of assistant chiefs and chiefs respectively and this has affected the working of the administrators,” he said.

The assistant county commissioner Eveline Ariyo who represented the Kakamega North sub county deputy county commissioner Florence Omieno expressed shock on the way the administrators houses and properties were razed and called for justice to prevail.

“We condemn this heinous act in the strongest terms possible and this happened due to security gaps experienced from our multi agency team. This calls for responsible intelligence dissemination to avoid information escalation from the public as we saw,” she said.

She cautioned leaders against irresponsible and unverified utterances that could spark animosity among the residents. 

The Malava township Chief Nechesa Luvale also called on the local administration team to embrace the welfare idea noting that only 10 out of the total 72 had registered as members.

Meanwhile following the incident, both the Kabras OCPD and OCS have been transferred just a day after the senior chief principal called for justice.

At the same time all chiefs will now have police officers at their disposal following a policy reversal announcement.

The National Government Administration Police Unit (NGAPU) has been established to assist chiefs regain the influence they once had earlier and also safeguard their security.