Baringo Man Openly Lectures President William Ruto, Claims the President Ignores Him

• The North Rift's bandit-infested neighborhoods' residents fear they may have to live with the threat of instability for years. 

• Ronald Rono disclosed that he had made numerous attempts, but to no success, to contact President Willian Ruto over the issue. 

• When a teacher that Ruto had previously pledged to defend was shot and killed following a bandit raid, Rono was devastated.

Early in February, Thomas Kibet was shot in the Namba area while riding a motorcycle to a function with his wife and child. At the time of his passing, he was Kagir Primary School's headteacher.

Speaking on Friday, March 1, at the teacher's funeral, Kiprono highlighted his dissatisfaction with the lackluster response of the federal government to the issue of banditry. He disclosed that he had been in communication with President William Ruto since 2015, during his time serving as Uhuru Kenyatta's deputy. Despite his repeated efforts to get in touch with Ruto, the threat of insecurity remained unabated.

Throughout his attempts to reach Ruto, no solution was found to the insecurity menace. "I have written enough messages to the president, directly to his phone. Today we are mourning the hero whom he promised in 2015 that he was going to give peace," started Kiprono. 

He suspected that those around the president were posing as barriers to information from the grassroots. "There are only two things; it is either he is not getting the correct message. The people you rely on are cheating and misleading you that you don't know what is going on on the ground. People are blaming you. Tell us whether you are getting the wrong message or you are having an interest in what is going on," said Rono.

After surviving a bandit attack in 1978 when he was only nine years old, which left him completely blind, Kibet became an inspiration to many. During the ambush, the bandits allegedly shot the 55-year-old in the head, causing him to instantly pass away. 

How was Kibet's burial disrupted? 

The attackers made a forceful comeback during his funeral, launching simultaneous attacks in the Baringo North settlements of Sibilo and Kagir. 

Officers guarded the route while the convoy traveled to the burial site, and security teams leading the mourners underwent intensive surveillance both on land and in the air. Some led a parade of sorrow, while the heavily armed officers patrolled the Kagir-Chepilat route. The robbers fired at the site, determined to cause further suffering, and attempted to interrupt the funeral by attacking the gravediggers.