A Maseno University student was on Tuesday night attacked by unknown group of boys that chased him for over a Kilometer during the showers that had lasted over two hours.
Kelvin Ruto was going back to his residence after being with his friends at the institution’s Tsunami hostels where light showers from late in the afternoon meant he could not leave until late on.
"These guys have chased me all the way from Maseno Polytechnic and disappeared when we approached the security light down there,” Ruto said while panting as a crowd gathered to listen to what he was saying.
"They had machetes and wanted to kill me. I dropped my phone and everything I had on me in the hope that they will stop but they couldn’t. Two of them continued pursuing me even after their friends had stopped. They just wanted to kill me,” he said.
Students living outside of the equator-based institution have been a long-term target for organized gangs in the locality.
Many of them have been robbed valuables from time to time and others even harmed physically by the gang members during night attacks.
Phones, laptops and other electronic gadgets have been taken from helpless students who are usually caught unawares and have nothing to do in self-defense.
Most reported cases have been happening on weekends and during the midweek especially when there are football matches like the European Champions League as most students stay out late into the night to watch the matches and trek back to their houses way past midnight.
The university administration has done its best to advice the students on precautionary measures but the attacks happen in the most mysterious way possible and when no one is expecting.
The students faulted Maseno Police Station for not providing adequate security to the locality with many saying the police should carry the blame.
With the ongoing rainy season and the end to the lecturers strike, it appears the gangs are again on the rise and are sadly picking up from where they left.
The installation of security lights by the World Bank project to rural areas has helped reduce the cases greatly but the menace is never wiped out.