Families mourn death of officers killed by bandits

Two families in Kirinyaga County are mourning the death of two young men who were killed in Turkana last Saturday night.

During our visit to Kiamanyeki village in Tebere ward in Mwea, we found family and friends gathered to mourn the death of Boniface Muthii, a 26-year-old General Service Unit officer.

Muthii and Benson Macharia, 22, who hails from Kiandieri in Kirinyaga Central were new recruits who graduated from GSU training college nine months ago.

The families of the two young officers are yet to come to terms with the loss, saying that the fallen officers were very young and with a very bright future ahead.

Kimotho Muli, Muthii's uncle said that it's very sad to lose such a young person, who was trying to rebuild his life, noting that they have gone through a lot of hardship to educate him, only for him to be killed after landing a job.

"His death is a big blow to us, we took loans so that we could educate him. And when he was just settling to build himself and support the rest of the family, he is taken away from us," he said.

The family has also faulted the government for sending new recruits to the war zones instead of the experienced officers who are well versed in combat and who understand the terrain of the affected areas.

"The young man had not received his salary for five months and his colleague was only deployed to Turkana one week before the attack. It is very sad," he said.

Macharia joined the forces last year and was posted last week to GSU Lokori camp prior to the attack.

Former Tebere ward MCA Gudson Muchina said the government should come up with a plan to deal with insecurity in the Rift Valley and bring lasting peace.

"We had the Sabaot Land Defense Force (SLDF) which used to terrorize people in Mt Elgon, but they were wiped out. We need a lasting solution to deal with these bandits," he said.