Sanitation and Water CS, A firefight between KWS officers and cattle rustlers occurred near
Marsabit on Friday, involving Sanitation and Water CS Alice Wahome's convoy.
The minister had visited the county to check out a water and sewage system project.
The CS had just finished reviewing the Bakuli Dam's development near Marsabit Forest
when her convoy unexpectedly got caught up in a gunfight.
The bandits are said to have slain an old herder near the Marsabit Catholic Shrine in the Saku
sub-county region before stealing an unspecified quantity of goats and livestock. Later, the
attackers made their way into Marsabit Forest, where they ran into KWS officials.
A following gunfight resulted in one of the criminals escaping with gunshot injuries.
CS Wahome was successfully removed from the area and later made her way to the Marsabit
Police Station, where she boarded a flight. The attack happened shortly after County Deputy
Governor Solomon Gubo urged President William Ruto to address livestock rustling.
The governor said, Madam Waziri, kindly convey our message to President Ruto and Interior
CS Kithure Kindiki to act immediately and combat cattle rustling, which has become a thorn
in our flesh in this county,"
Mr. Gubo pleaded with President Ruto to hasten the recovery of the firearms seized from
National Police Reserve members in 2019. He claimed that the NPR weapons had
significantly reduced the likelihood of livestock rustlers causing ongoing havoc in Suba
County.
The attack also occurs precisely one week after a fatal livestock rustler attack in which eight
individuals were killed in Yalle Kurkum, Kargi Location.
CS Wahome stated that the Kenya Kwanza government was devoted to resolving the
ongoing, severe water deficit in Marsabit County in a press conference prior to the incident.
The CS directed all other government organizations and contractors to make room so that the
Bakuli Dam, whose construction started in 2015, could be finished quickly.
The Cs told the locals of Marsabit that the severe water crisis would be forgotten once the
project was finished by describing how the Bakuli Dam would produce 750 cubic liters of
water a day.
The encroachment-related impasse had forced the people of Marsabit town to rely on two
springs from the Bakuli region, which had postponed the Sh7.7 million project's completion.
She also assured the locals that the government would quickly start building the Sh3 billion
Badasa Dam, which would have a larger capacity of 1,500 cubic liters of water per day. In
2007, the Dam's construction came to a standstill. The CS finished by calling on all relevant
stakeholders to aid in making the construction of the Dam a success.
“We appeal to the residents and all other government agencies to help us end acute water shortage in this region,” she said.
