Arrest leaflet authors, says Bett

A cabinet minister on Wednesday condemned those behind leaflets circulating in Kericho district telling members of the Luo community to leave the area.

Roads minister Franklin Bett said circulation of the leaflets should not be condoned and petitioned the security agents to ensure that the culprits were brought to book as soon as possible so as to restore calm in the district.

Mr Bett said this was a matter that could easily cause unnecessary panic and despondency among the communities living in Kericho and urged local detectives to give the issue the seriousness it deserved.

The leaflets, according to the local police boss, Mr Peterson Maelo, were dropped on Saturday night on the Kericho- Nakuru highway and within the foreign owned multinational tea firms in the larger Kericho district.

The minister made the remarks at Litein secondary school sports ground moments after receiving donations of food, clothing and blankets to be distributed to the squatters who were evicted from the South Western Mau forest and are now living in makeshift camps in Kuresoi and Konoin districts.

Mr Bett called on the residents of Rift Valley Province to co-exist and cautioned the youth not to allow themselves to be used in activities that could jeopardise the prevailing peace and tranquillity in the country.

The minister urged the local community to volunteer information to the security agents that could lead to the arrest of those they suspect could be behind the distribution of the leaflets so to that the government could deal with them.

Contacted for comment on Wednesday, Mr Maelo said that no arrest had so far been made in connection with the distribution of the leaflets but said investigations were going on.

The police boss assured workers in the multinational tea firms that security had been beefed up in all the areas where the fliers had been dropped and they need not panic.