Police are investigating an incident in which a casual laborer was shot and killed in an attack in Mandera County.
Police believe the gunmen behind the incident targeted Morris Meme, 30. He had been working there for more than a year.
His body was found on the roadside with a bullet wound in the head prompting tension. The bullet had entered the mouth and exited the rear side of the head, police said.
The incident happened in Eladi location, Elwak. The area is near the Kenya-Somalia border that is usually breached by al-Shabaab gunmen who strike at will.
Neighbours told police that they heard a gunshot at midnight and the following morning on Sunday while going to the mosque they found the deceased lying in a pool of blood.
An AK47 spent cartridge was recovered at the scene. The body was moved to the mortuary pending autopsy and other processes.
Police suspect Meme was targeted by remnants of the terror group operating in the area. No locals are usually targeted by terrorists.
Read: 2 Police Officers Killed, Six Injured in IED Attack in Mandera
Some have died and others fled there for their safety. For instance, dozens of teachers who are non-locals have fled the area and are camping at the Teachers Service Commission seeking to be moved elsewhere over insecurity.
The teachers say they are targeted because they are non-locals.
The teachers’ protests come weeks after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki urged TSC to consider posting non-local teachers in the insecurity-stricken Northern counties for shorter durations and then reshuffling them.
The CS told a parliamentary education committee insecurity is affecting the mental health of the non-local teachers. He told the committee that the locals contribute to issues of insecurity among the non-local teachers through incitement.
“There is a bit of incitement from the local communities against non-local teachers so some of the threats are coming from the local communities themselves and we must therefore look towards engaging the local communities to accept the reality that they don’t have enough teachers.”
He recommended that the teachers be pooled in one area temporarily to protect them from attacks by the al-Shabaab militia group.
Read Also: 60 Percent Of Mandera County Controlled By Al Shabaab – Governor Khalif
According to the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT), Mandera County alone currently needs more than 2,000 teachers to fill the gap in 300 public primary schools and another 550 public secondary schools.
The region lost 28 teachers in 2014 after a bus they were traveling in while heading to Nairobi for the December holidays was attacked.
In January 2020, the region faced another teacher crisis after TSC transferred tutors from other parts of the country, citing insecurity after three of them were killed by al-Shabaab during a night raid.
Tens of people have been killed in attacks by the terrorists operating in the area. Most of the victims are non locals.
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