Two people are nursing injuries at Keroka district hospital following chaos that marred a burial ceremony of a teacher in Manga area of Borabu constituency on Monday morning.
According to a witness, the chaos started when supporters perceived to be loyal to Borabu MP Ben Momanyi blocked entrance to people believed to be staunch supporters of Momanyi’s perennial rival Mr Patrick Osero.
The two were expected to attend the funeral with the two politicians set to meet face to face since the hotly contested 2013 polls that saw them separated with just less that 100 votes.
“Momanyi’s supporters should take responsibility for this chaos," said Peter Magomba.
"They clearly blocked the entrance and started ordering their rivals to vacate the compound of the deceased, Mr Alex Ongoi. We immediately saw people pelting stones and the impact was severe head injury to two people.”
Calm was restored as Manga police officers asked for reinforcement from Chepilat GSU camp with at least 15 people being arrested and taken to Keroka police station in connection with the incident.
However, speaking after being denied an access to the funeral compound following a request by the family members, Mr Osero, who is the current chair of Agricultural Financial Cooperation, condemned the incident and accused the legislator of using hooligans to intimidate him.
“The MP is clearly behind all this and he should take responsibility. I don’t know when he started owning Borabu and the police should investigate his conduct because he has done it to me not once,” he said.
Efforts to reach Mr Momanyi for the comment were futile since he was said to be busy at Mokomoni region for a different function.