Catholic women protest against insecurity in Isiolo

A section of women from the Anglican Church in Isiolo on Monday staged peaceful demonstrations over increased incidences of crime within the town and its environs.

This follows a recent trend where a woman was shot dead at her home in Kambi ya Juu village and her two dairy cows left with gunshots a week ago.

Three days earlier, the Somali Council of Elders’ Secretary General Idle Hassan had been shot multiple times outside Jamia Mosque in Isiolo Town CBD as he went for evening prayers.

He survived the incident and is currently recuperating in a Hospital in Meru.

Under the banner of Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK), Diocese of Marsabit Mothers’ union, the women decried ineffective and slow response by government authorities in curbing the rising crime rate which is now threatening the peaceful coexistence among the people of Isiolo.

The Executive Director of Isiolo Gender Watch Grace Lolim said the wave of recent criminal activities is worrying, since it has deviated from the traditional cattle rustling activities where some people lost their lives during raids, to the recent incidents where people are shot in Isiolo town CBD and its environs such as Kambi ya Juu village where the late Nelly was killed and her cows injured at her home.

The group staged the peaceful walk from Uhuru ACK Church in Burat ward, through Isiolo town, all the way to the ACK Church in Mwangaza area where they held a press conference, calling out government security agencies to do  more to protect the lives and property of Kenyans, and to bring perpetrators to book in order to stem the vice.

 Lolim also called for increased recruitment and deployment of Kenya police reservists to help contain crime in the villages.