Rift Valley Regional co-coordinator Wanyama Musiambo has said that a local chief has been suspended for inciting one community against the other in the ongoing Ngongongeri farm skirmishes, and will be among the suspects to be arraigned in court on Friday March 11, 2016.
Musiambo, without mentioning the name of the suspended chief, said that even government officers will not be spared.
“As a starting point, I have suspended one chief with immediate effect. That tells how serious the government is, and our officers will not rest until we arrest all of them,” he said.
Prime suspects in the attacks are being followed with the regional co-coordinator indicating that some have even switched off their mobile phones.
“Our officers from Njoro and Molo sub-Counties will remain here through out until we arrest all the suspects, because we want to take them to court in lorries tomorrow ( Friday). These people have title deeds and the land is theirs legally,” said Musiambo on Thursday.
Musiambo was accompanied by the county commissioner Joshua Nkanatha, regional AP commander Francis Kirathe, S.M. Makau of the Kenya police among others.
The expansive Ngongongeri farm is home to more than 300 families of the Ogiek community and other tribes.
Former powerful officers and cabinet ministers in the KANU regime, Egerton University, a sitting MP and a governor own land in Ngongongeri with some owning as more as 40,000 acres.
The national land commission recently visited the disputed land and promised to give a way forward in 21 days.