Two men charged over aspirant’s murder in Kisumu

Two men have been charged with the murder of politician Shem Onyango that sparked riots in Kisumu which left four people dead.

This took place as police admitted that they had been overwhelmed by rising crime in the area due to lack of officers and equipment.

In court, Mr Francis Onyango Nyakwaka and Mr John Muga Onyango faced three charges.

They were charged with violently robbing and killing Mr Onyango on Mosque Road in Kisumu while armed with an AK 47 rifle.

They were also charged with violently robbing Mr Nelson Odwaro Oduogo of a Bible and other items all valued at Sh10,000 on the same date and at the same location.

Mr Muga also faced a third charge —being found in illegal possession of a crocodile skin at Otonglo market on Thursday.

They denied all the charges. They were not released on bond because Inspector John Muriuki, the prosecutor, requested that they stay in remand as the investigating officer “fine-tunes” the case details.

The magistrate provided the prosecution with five more days to investigate the matter. It will be mentioned on November 6.

No officers

Meanwhile, Nyanza Provincial Police boss Joseph ole Tito on Thursday admitted that they were overwhelmed by the rising crime in the region.

He attributed this to lack of enough officers and lack of equipment to fight crime in the lakeside town.

‘‘It is unfortunate that lives are lost in our presence. But due to the few number of police officers we have, we are not able to cover all the areas,” Mr ole Tito said.

However, he said that he had deployed patrol officers to keep vigil in different parts of the town. The police boss urged the public to volunteer any information that could help fight crime.