Lessos residents to rebuild OCS residence

Residents of Lessos in Nandi County have made peace with the police.

The reconciliation comes a month after a deadly clash between locals and some officers left three people dead and a trail of destruction.

The residents have offered to rebuild the area OCS’s official residence as a way of reconciling with the new set of police officers posted to the area.

Local chief James Serem said a series of meetings had been held between security officers and the residents to foster peace after the fatal shootings in June.

“We met residents in barazas ahead of the arrival of the new team of officers. We later met the business community and boda riders,” the chief said.

He continued: “After the meetings, the residents offered to rebuild the OCS’s house using their own resources but the area National Government Constituency Development Fund committee promised to build a new one.”

On June 25, a quarrel between a physically challenged cobbler Lazurus Tirop over the arrest of a boda rider ended tragically.

Tirop tried to intervene in the arrest of the boda rider who was found not wearing a face mask. His move angered an officer who shot him dead.

Outraged residents stormed Lessos Police Station and torched the OCS’s house, resulting in the fatal shooting of Cornelius Kipkogei and Timothy Kipyego.

The area chief said a reconciliation process begun a day after the burial of the three men.

He said plans by Nandi elders to perform a cleansing ceremony at the police station are underway.

Lessos residents said peaceful coexistence has been achieved in the past three weeks.

Led by Mathew Mitei, the locals asked the National Police Service to conduct routine mental assessment of officers to reduce cases of firearm misuse.