A woman displaced due to border conflicts in Tana River county tore into President Uhuru Kenyatta for neglecting her and other women bearing the brunt of the violence which continues to persist.
Hostilities over grazing land between the Kamba and Somali communities living in the area have led to the loss of lives, property and livestock all in the past five months.
In a widely-shared video (see end of story), the woman is heard calling out Uhuru as she discusses the painful experiences they continue to go through living in a make-shift camp with their children.
"They destroyed our houses and attacked us. All these women don't have houses or even Identification Cards. Uhuru, you have forgotten us. Uhuru, you have left us. We don't have a Chief, an MP or a Senator. We don't have food, we don't have water.
"We just sit here in the scorching sun every day. Our children are missing school, our daughters are being married off.
"I've been sleeping here for six months. Uhuru, why have you left us here? The government of Kenya has abandoned us, no one has come here, not even to say sorry," she asserted.
The woman further claimed that police heavy-handedness had seen many of their husbands arbitrarily arrested.
"The officers come here at eight in the morning to chase us away. All the men are taken away, the women are left here with the babies," she alleged.
The woman appealed to Uhuru and other leaders to take action to get them out of the camp they now call home.
Kenyans.co.ke spoke to Tana River County Communications Director Steve Juma who revealed details of the harrowing situation on the ground.
"They've been living there for about four or five months, it's really bad. We can trace it to the conflicts at the border between Kitui and Tana River," he stated.
Juma disclosed that the situation was getting worse by the day as victims remain unable to access shelter, adequate food or critical services including medicine and other supplies.
Farmers in Kitui had accused Somali herders of forcefully invading their farms to graze their livestock, triggering the conflict.
The herders, however, vehemently denied the claims that they would forcefully invade the farms during the dry seasons.
A video of Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu urging youth to protect the farms in Kitui had gone viral in September 2019, sparking an uproar as a section of Kenyans termed it as inciteful.
“Don’t think those guns are so powerful, I will give you money to get some and train our men on how to use a gun, bows and arrows so that we can do away with these people, there is no other option,” she stated.
Watch the woman's passionate appeal in the video below:
