Photo source: dialaradio.com
Tension is high in Malava sub-county between the Luhya and Nandi communities after 23 houses were razed on Sunday.
The exact cause of the tension is however unclear as conflicting reports by security officers in the area attribute the torching of the houses to the killing of a Nandi man by a Luhya last month.
Other reports indicate that the houses belonged to the Luhya were torched after two youths from the Nandi allegedly attempted to snatch cattle from Luhya boy herders who were grazing the cattle on the Nandi escarpment.
"The boys raised alarm and their relatives responded and managed to recover the animals and drove them back to Khubasali village on the Kakamega side," a senior security officer told The Star on the phone.
The officer who declined to be named said the Nandi youth after having been foiled in their attempt to take the cattle, started throwing stoned and arrows downhill at the Luhya homesteads on the escarpment.
The officer reported that the Nandi youth then came down the hill and burnt the houses before police arrived on the scene he added.
A month ago, the man at the centre of controversy killed a neighbour over a land dispute sparked off tensions between the communities leading to burning of three houses on the Kakamega side of the border.
Police however gave conflicting accounts on the burnt houses. Kakamega county police commander Manegene Warui said that only seven houses were burnt.
Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya and his Nandi counterpart Cleophas Lagat rushed to the scene and cooled the tensions.
-The-star.co.ke