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Call for inquest into Mt Elgon killings
By TITUS MAERO
KENYA TIMES
16. April 2007
THE Kenya Human Rights Network (KHURINET) yesterday petitioned the Government to open an inquest into the death of 13 people allegedly shot dead by security personnel deployed in Mount Elgon district to curb land clashes.
The KHURINET National Co-ordinator M/s Beatrice Kamau who is touring the area on a fact finding mission said it was unfortunate that the security organs which are mandated to safeguard the lives of the local people had killed innocent people.
Kamau called upon the Government to urgently open the public inquest to establish the circumstances under which the people were shot dead adding that the matter is of national interest.
Speaking to reporters at Kapsokwony trading centre in Mount Elgon District, Kamau also took issue with the Government accusing it of provide a proper land policy to end land clashes.
She warned that if the Government does not address land dispute once and for all, the local people would still harbour animosity among themselves.
“We are here on a fact finding mission to establish the real cause of the clashes. But meanwhile, we are demanding that an inquest be opened to ascertain the death of the thirteen people said to have been shot dead by the security organs keeping vigil in the area,” she added.
She also said that she had talked to the local people on the genesis of the land clashes in the area and found out that there is rampant corruption in the land allocation to the local people by the
government.
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