Kapchorwa CAO Shot 10 Times

By Felix Osike
and Nathan Etengu
MURDERED. Kapchorwa residents were awakened to shocking news that their Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) was shot dead by unknown assailants.
Ten bullets brought the life of James Onyait to an end on Saturday night. He was ambushed while travelling back home from Mbale at 10:30pm.
As he pleaded with the assailants to spare his life, a staccato of machine gunfire burst out as the trigger-happy men did their job.
Onyait was gunned down at Burkoyen cliff, barely a kilometer from the town.
They wanted only his life. The mobile phone and money were left at the scene. His saloon car windscreens were shattered with bullets.
The District Police Commander, Thomson Ogole, and the LC5 chairman, Nelson Chelimo, said the incident was shocking.
“He was a good man, a very good civil servant. They killed him in cold blood,” said the RDC, Tezira Jamwa, adding that no suspects had been arrested.
Kapchorwa mayor George Toskin said the gruesome murder had further divided the district already rocked by political differences and thuggery.
Chelimo said Onyait’s murder could be political.
“It is likely to be political, because the assailants did not take anything from the vehicle including the deceased’s mobile phone,” Che said.
Lt. Leonard Chemonges, a local politician, said investigations should centre on thuggery, office rivalry and local politics.
The DPC said the driver, Saleh Chelimo, survived unhurt. “We have asked the driver to help us in the investigation because he said he escaped over the cliff but he does not have any bruises.”
Ogole said the road was blocked with a boulder “where the cliff was very narrow.”
Onyait took over from the embattled former CAO, John Muhanguzi, who was interdicted by the former chairman, Christopher Chepkurui Songor, before he was reinstated on a high court order. Ends