Probe links Kitengela violence to political forces eyeing 2017 votes

Political forces in Kajiado are being implicated over a spate of riots and confrontations in Kitengela in recent weeks.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission says it is investigating recordings of political leaders said to be behind the violence and has tried to get them to meet and discuss, to no avail.

“Our undercover officers who attended these planning meetings have several recordings. I wrote to the governor telling him that I wanted to meet him on September 21 regarding the information but he said he would be out of the country,” cohesion chairman Francis ole Kaparo said.

“I have also written to the county commissioner, Mr Kello Harsama, but I haven’t seen any written response. We are very concerned because we cannot rule out anything,” he said.

A closed-door meeting between Maasai elders and traders from other ethnic groups in the town at Ninni hotel on Thursday morning ended in a stalemate after Kajiado North MP David Manje accused Governor David Nkedianye of trying to make the county ungovernable.

“Word has it that the recent violence could be politically instigated to displace certain tribes from Kitengela. I wonder if this is true,” Mr Manje said at the meeting. He was shouted down, sparking chaos that brought the meeting to an end.

One person died in clashes that dragged on for two weeks, sparked by a dispute about alleged ethnic imbalance in Kitengela market. The ripple effects have created fear among residents, with built-up tension threatening to shutter peaceful coexistence between the Maasai and other ethnic groups.

Several businesses are running at half capacity while others remain closed. On Tuesday, some traders tried to occupy the market, which has been closed.

A 15-member committee that handled the disputed allocation of stalls at the market was disbanded on Thursday by the Kajiado county government.

Kajiado Governor David Nkedianye has accused the committee of unfairness, saying the market shall remain closed for another one week to find a solution.

“The county is aware of acts of corruption in allocation of space at the market. That is why we dissolved the committee,” he said.

There is also a scary possibility that Maasai politicians keen on controlling the 2017 vote could be working behind the scenes to make the county unattractive to non-Maasais. Maasai politicians allegedly fear they could lose their seats in 2017 should other ethnic groups vote for their own.

All the county assembly seats and parliamentary positions are held by Maasai politicians.

Violence erupted two weeks ago after Maasai women traders demanded half the stalls. They protested at the market’s entrance.

The women were not traders at the recently renovated market, but were later joined by morans armed with spears and other weapons, sparking the violence in which one person died.

The morans openly clashed with the police and non Maasais. They had been brought in vehicles on the morning of September 7, and again on September 8, from Isinya and Il Bisil, over 20km away. It is still not clear who brought them.

Both Mr Nkedianye and Mr Harsama have denied that the tension is ethnically instigated. “The violence is a result of allocation of stalls. We will work together with locals to end this conflict,” said Mr Nkedianye.

Kajiado, like many counties neighbouring Nairobi, has recently transformed into a cosmopolitan area, owing to its cheaper housing.

Last year, the county government banned sale of land, citing irregular deals. But the deals have continued unabated.