Nyamira County Commissioner Josephine Onunga has been challenged to crack the whip on a notorious gang which has reportedly been giving residents of Rigoma trading center sleepless nights, for over six months now.
Irate residents on Wednesday during a burial of a man believed to have been attacked and killed by the gang dubbed 'Scorpion' trolled the county commissioner’s office for failing to take action despite reporting the insecurity incidents.
Mr Shadrack Mose who led the residents called for beefing up security in the region.
He said the region was slowly turning into a dangerous zone and called for urgent actions from government.
“We are tired of cases of insecurity in this region. We have lost at least four people within three months through attacks launched by the notorious gang which is responsible for all these. The county commissioner must take responsibility and ensure members of the deadly gang area arrested and taken to prison,” he said.
MCA Ben Sironga (Rigoma ward) on his part questioned the alleged reluctance by the county commissioner to respond to calls and threatened to table the incident in the county assembly to call for her removal.
“I respect Mrs Josephine Onunga but she must respond as to why her office was taking long to remedy the situation. The gang is taking advantage of poor security surveillance to rob and kill innocent people. Businesses in this small trading center close as early as six in the evening and this is sabotage to our economy,” he said.
Sironga said residents were ready to share information about the gang but feared retaliation since the police were not interested in pursuing the criminals.
“Scorpion is a gang well known to a number of people but they fear reporting them because of their safety. What’s important though, is the county commissioner to launch a crackdown so that whoever is mentioned is immediately arrested and charged in court for the safety of the people,” he added.