Why they kill and torch houses to avenge death, settle other scores

Victims of land clashes in Elgeyo Marakwet County receive relief food. Families have turned the hospital into their home after their houses were torched. [Fred Kibor, Standard]

Gloom is written all over their faces. Children clutch onto their mothers’ shoulders crying for food and warmth. The older children are crowded in a corner of the building, sleep on the floor.

The more than 50 families from Kisimai village, Marakwet East whose homes were last month razed, are suffering at Marichor dispensary’s maternity hall.

Among the Marakwet community, an age-old ‘culture’ of burning houses to...