The former Principal Secretary in the State Department of Agriculture, within the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, said today that unknown gunmen fired at his car last week in what he described as an unsuccessful assassination attempt that he escaped by a whisker. The incident left him convinced that his life was under threat, he said.
“I am deeply concerned for my life,” said the ex-PS, Prof Richard Lesiyampe. “I have credible information that there are people who had hatched a plan to execute me for reasons that I do not know.”
He said the assailants pursued his vehicle, which he had been using frequently that week, and targeted it while travelling along the Baragoi-Barsaloi road in Samburu North Sub-County. When the gunmen opened fire, Lesiyampe said, his driver was hit several times and sustained critical gunshot wounds, which are currently being treated at Samburu County Referral Hospital in Maralal town.
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“My family is going through a lot of trauma at the moment. My friends too are anxious,” the former PS, who now serves as the CEO of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH), said.
The gunmen vanished after the attack, which Lesiyampe believes was a murder-for-hire plot. He added that the police and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in Maralal, where he recorded a statement, have not yet apprehended the attackers.
“The former PS has indeed recorded a statement with the DCI here. We are treating this matter seriously,” said Mr Thomas Ototo, Samburu County Police Commander.
The event comes almost one year after Lesiyampe reported to the police that his Loibornkare homestead had been broken into by thugs who made away with some of his livestock.
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