Kisumu traders fear riots over insecurity will put off investors

Kisumu County stands to lose billions of shillings worth of investment if the insecurity that has hit the region persists.

This was the message from the business community in the third largest city in the country.

Two days of riots against rising insecurity brought business in parts of the town to a standstill yesterday and on Monday, leading to losses running into millions of shillings for traders

The riots, sparked by the shooting of businessman and politician Shem Onyango have so far seen three people lose their lives and scores injured.
The police yesterday ruled out a political motive in the incident.

Businessmen in Kisumu say that insecurity has reached a tipping point, eroding their confidence.

Under the banner of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce, the traders said the two days of riots in parts of the town were indicators of a systemic insecurity problem in the area.

“The killing of Shem Onyango comes a day after HIV/Aids researcher Joseph Odhiambo was also killed in his home not far from where Mr. Onyango met his death,” said Israel Agina, the chairman of the Kisumu chapter of the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“These are just two of the many reported cases of murders, carjackings and kidnappings that have been on the rise in the last few months and the police seem overwhelmed in dealing with the criminals.”

Mr Agina now says the rise in criminal activity over the last few months have led to a freeze in several billions’ worth of investment in the lakeside city as potential investors adopt a wait- and-see attitude in the run up to the March 2012 General Election.

“We have shopping malls and supermarkets that were earmarked for completion by December this year but developers have halted construction and have stated that they will wait until after the elections to put in more money,” he said.

The slain businessman and his wife were waylaid on Monday morning and shot, with Onyango succumbing to his injuries while receiving treatment at the Aga Khan hospital in Kisumu.

The widow is admitted at the same hospital and police say that she is in stable condition and responding to treatment.

Protestors engaged security officers in running battles and stormed a police station leaving three people dead and scores injured. Kisumu police are increasingly coming under fire for purported failure to check runaway crime in the town.

But Nyanza provincial police boss Joseph ole Tito yesterday said they have started investigations into the recent killings and are making headway.

“The killing of Mr Shem Onyango was not a political assassination as some politicians would like to make the public believe,” he said.

“We have established that the victim had Sh1.3 million, which he was going to deposit at the bank when he was accosted by the criminals.

Eye witnesses said the gunmen asked the victim to hand over the money but that he resisted and a scuffle ensued before the couple was shot.

“This was a random case of robbery gone bad.”

But to many residents of Kisumu the riots come as a culmination of several months of increased cases of criminal activities in the town that threaten to reverse the socio-economic goals made in the city since the 2007/2008 post-election violence.

Several residential estates have become prone to car-jackings, burglaries and murder.

Police could not immediately give official figures but unconfirmed estimates indicate that over two dozen cases of carjacking were reported in the last one month alone with many cases going unreported.

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