Gunmen Fatally Shoot Samburu MCA Paul Leshimpiro

Security officials were Sunday pursuing a gang that shot and killed a member of the Samburu County Assembly in an ambush in Soit Pus area of Samburu North.

This is the latest incident to happen in the area that is increasingly becoming inhabitable over insecurity, police said.

Police said Angata Nanyekie MCA Paul Leshimpiro was shot dead by suspected bandits at Soit Pus on Maralal-Baragoi Highway.

He was rushed to Morijo Dispensary where he succumbed to gunshot wounds, police said.

Samburu County police boss Thomas Ototo confirmed the incident and said the MCA was on his way home, when he was ambushed by gunmen.

“He was shot at close range and we do not know if he was targeted,” said Ototo.

The MCA was with his driver, who escaped unhurt.

The body of the ward representative has been taken to the Samburu County Referral Hospital mortuary awaiting postmortem examination.

The killing of the MCA comes days after Angata Nanyekie was besieged by gunmen.

Police said in the past one month, parts of Soit Pus, Morijo and Angata Nanyekie have been haunted by banditry following numerous attacks targeting villagers and even travellers in the region

The area has been facing increased attacks which paralyzed operations at large.

It comes days after five people were killed in separate bandit attacks in Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, and Samburu counties.

Bandits ambushed and killed a 59-year-old man in Baringo North and two others in Marakwet East, before driving away a herd of cattle last Wednesday.

The man was shot as he attended to his livestock near Yatya Primary School, while the two were ambushed and fatally shot in the Liter area in East Marakwet, police said.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has been leading the operations in the area vowing to end the menace.

Kindiki said cattle rustling in Northern Kenya has over the years become an organised criminal enterprise responsible for deaths, poverty and displacement.

“Its impacts are severe. It deprives pastoral communities of their economic mainstay and aggravates the conditions of poverty in the rangelands, fuelling communal grievances and revenge attacks,” he said.

The government has promised more resources in the war against banditry.