Kalenjin houses to be spared ‘were marked’

 
PHOTO | FILE The International Criminal Court building at the Hague.  AFP

In Summary
According to the witness, the Kalenjin property that had the inscription KITWEK (ours) were neither looted nor burnt
However, he explained that some Kalenjins could also inscribe the word on the property belonging to Kikuyu friends to have them spared

 By Nation Reporter
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The sixth prosecution witness on Tuesday claimed that residential and business property belonging to Kalenjins in Kapsabet were marked with a clear inscriptions to spare them from the attackers during the 2007/08 post-poll chaos.

According to the witness, the Kalenjin property that had the inscription KITWEK (ours) were neither looted nor burnt by the youths. The inscriptions, he said, were made using a dark oil-based paint or permanent markers.

However, he explained that some Kalenjins could also inscribe the word on the property belonging to Kikuyu friends to have them spared. Also, he did not rule out the possibility the Kikuyus in Kapsabet, having learnt that was the identifier, marked their own property to save them from the attackers.

Prosecution: Was there any manner of distinguishing business and residential that belonged to Kikuyus and those that did not?

Witness: There was. Kikuyu businesses were known. I knew of some of them and I was met by ugly sights of the businesses burnt down.

Prosecution: Was there any way to identify the Kikuyu property?

Witness: There was an inscription identifying whose building it was.

Prosecution: Can you tell us what the inscription was?

Witness: Buildings belonging to Kalenjins were marked with the inscription KITWEK. You would find the buildings intact. Perhaps that was a way of identifying the owner.

Prosecution: Can you tell us what language this is?

Witness: It’s Kalenjin.

According to the witness, many buildings that were not bearing the inscription were burnt down.

“Some Kikuyu buildings may have been spared because a Kalenjin friend inscribed the word,” he said.

Attackers, he explained, did not live within Kapsabet town but came from “deep recesses of the villages”, a sign they could have been transported.

According to the witness, the leader of those who were destroying a Kisii house was a Mr Ishmael Choge.