The Catholic Diocese of Eldoret, Bishop Dominic Kimengich, has urged leaders, security agencies, and local communities to pursue a permanent solution to insecurity in the Kerio Valley.
Bishop Kimengich noted that many of the disasters witnessed in the region are closely linked to long years of conflict and displacement.
Speaking at St Maurus Primary School grounds in Chesongoch during a memorial gathering, Bishop Kimengich said residents have been forced to live and farm along the dangerous hanging valley due to persistent insecurity in the lowlands.
“Those people living on the hanging valley are there because of insecurity in the region. For many years, many lives have been lost because of conflict, and so people moved to the hills for safety,” he said.
He warned that the continued tilling of steep slopes has worsened environmental degradation, exposing communities to mudslides and landslides.
“Because residents are farming on fragile slopes, vegetation cover has disappeared, and there is nothing to hold the soil. Everything is connected — insecurity, displacement, and environmental destruction,” he noted.
Bishop Kimengich stressed the need for preventive action, saying tragedies should not be allowed to repeat.
“If there are things we can prevent, let us do so, so that our people can have peace and live safely,” he affirmed.
Although the region currently enjoys relative calm, the bishop said it is not enough, insisting that more work must be done to revive and sustain long-term peace.
“We have relative peace, but it is not enough. We must aim for lasting peace in the Kerio Valley,” he said. “There is plenty of arable land in the lowlands, but residents cannot use it because they fear for their lives. They run to the hanging valley to live and farm.”
He reminded leaders and communities that this is not the first time tragedy has struck the region, and it will not be the last unless a genuine solution to insecurity is found.
“We need a lasting solution so that people are not affected again and again,” he emphasised.
Bishop Kimengich also called for harmony and unity among residents, saying true peace is built on mutual respect rather than fear.
“Real peace is not the absence of fear; it is living in harmony with each other,” he said. “As we gather to celebrate the lives of our departed, let us commit to living peacefully, doing business together, and continuing our daily lives without conflict.”
He urged all stakeholders to work together to restore stability and protect lives, saying the Kerio Valley deserves a future free from violence and environmental disasters.
By Rennish Okong’o
