Trans Nzoia leaders demand justice for Saboti teen killed in KFS clash

Moses Cheprot from Gitwamba Village in Saboti, Trans Nzoia County, woke up to a bright morning, ready to tackle the day’s tasks. At his mother’s request, he set out to prepare the land for their maize farm, unaware that April 17, 2025, would turn out to be anything but ordinary.

As the season of top-dressing the maize crop approached, other villagers were also busy in their respective plots, working on the task. In contrast, others collected firewood from the neighbouring Saboti forest to ward off the cold weather prevailing, accompanied by the heavy rains that pounded the area.

The Form III student at St Monica’s Secondary School had been accustomed to assisting her mother, Stellah Teng’a, with both household chores and farm activities before turning to her classwork in the evenings, with a promise to her parents to become a teacher in her future profession.

Little did the 17-year-old Cheprot know that this would be her last day on earth when a group of armed forest rangers from the Saboti Kenya Forest Service (KFS) station came reeling and accosted the villagers working on the farm.

A confrontation between the villagers and the forest officers ensued, and during the scramble, Cheprot was shot in the head and succumbed later to the injuries, as three more persons were injured with gun wounds.

According to the KFS, the deceased was a victim of a stray bullet fired in the melee when the forest guards tried to defend themselves against the villagers who had become violent. The government agency, however, promised to investigate the incident and affirmed its commitment to upholding human rights.

The Trans Nzoia County Commissioner, Gideon Oyangi, had also promised the government’s commitment to resolving the land dispute issue that has led to several clashes between the KFS and residents in the past.

But almost two months later, the KFS, which had pledged to act in consultation with the Kenya Police Service (KPS), has yet to make any arrests or arraignments, prompting outrage from leaders and the family of the deceased to call out for the intervention of IPOA.

While the Trans Nzoia leaders, led by the Saboti MCA Boniface Cheloti and the family spokesperson and the mother of the late boy student Teng’an, both accused the KFS of not being serious in taking the matter to the DCI, the forest agency remained adamant that “a suspected stray bullet fatally injured one person”.

In a statement released after the incident, the KFS said it remained steadfast in managing, conserving and protecting the forests, adding that the forest officers were prompted to open fire when goons attacked them.

It denied that the incident took place on a private farm but rather on a gazetted Block, Makunga Forest, under the KFS, which intruders had invaded to cultivate and erect structures.

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In her testimony, the grieving mother explained that she had sent her son to the farm when he found the KFS officers clashing with some villagers, and within a short time, he was confronted with a bullet in his head. ‘’ Whoever did this to my son will be answered by GOD Himself,’’ she said amid sobs, adding that she would not rest until justice was meted out on her son “alive or dead”.

Villagers interviewed said, despite their heeding the calls by the officers to lay down their arms on the fateful day, they continued shooting indiscriminately, targeting those who were not even within the vicinity of the farm.

They wondered why the forest guards could not arrest those creating trouble and turned to the innocent students. Among those injured was a former student.

But Trans Nzoia politicians, including former civic leaders Patrick Kisiero, David Kaboloman and Pius Kauka, insisted the killers of Cheprot must be brought to book and the affected families compensated by the KFS.

Speaking in Kitale, the leaders provided a chronology of events that have sparked intermittent clashes between residents and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), spanning over a decade on the 600-acre Ex-Soronzon Farm, which ultimately led to the villagers owning the land.

The villagers allegedly acquired the farm through their Chorlim Multi-purpose Cooperative Society after paying Ksh 3.9 million out of the Ksh 5 million price. The 1,365 families vowed to stay put and fight for their rights up to the highest authority in the land, even after the former Lands Cabinet Minister, Prof. Jacob Kaimenyi, had instructed the cancellation of the gazettment of the said forest land.

Pro. Kaimenyi was responding to a question in the National Assembly by the Endebess MP, Dr Robert Pukose, who had tabled all proof documents and correspondences showing that the land had changed ownership to the residents.

Messrs. Cheloti, Kisiero, Kaboloman, and Kauka said they were stunned when the KFS came in later to claim ownership of the farm, which had once belonged to a White settler after the villagers had concluded the purchase agreement for the farm and moved to the site to put up structures for their permanent settlement.

The quartet wondered how a ministerial directive could be ignored, allowing the KFS to stop claiming the disputed land belonged to them and move to bar the residents from occupying the farm as their legal property. ENDS

By Abisai Amugune