Kitengela market has been closed indefinitely following a raid by Maasai women, who chased traders over space allocation, on Tuesday.
Kajiado Governor David Nkedianye said the market will only be reopened once issues raised by the women are addressed.
Nkedianye said his decision to close the town’s main market has been communicated to the county's security council and should be respected.
“No one should access the market. Anybody doing the contrary will be arrested and prosecuted," he told traders during a tour of the market on Wednesday.
"I will come back to this market to announce what we have resolved as leaders," he said, and apologised to residents and traders who were injured or lost property.
The tour was cut short following reports that more than 500 armed morans had gathered at the town’s slaughterhouse gardens and were planning to carrry out raids to flush out Mungiki sect members.
At the slaughterhouse, the morans who kept journalists off their meeting with Nkedianye, gave the governor a list of their grievances.
They said the sect has turned the town insecure and that boda boda operators are supplied with weapons which they allegedly carry while on duty.
They also demanded consideration in development issues and the distribution of resources.
A group of youths earier attacked boda boda riders who had parked their motorcycles near Chini ya Mnazi Bar and Restaurant.
They damaged more than 50 boda bodas and punctured the tyres of petrol tankers.
About 300 AP and GSU officers were deployed to the town, the security council later announcing that chaos over the market space had been contained.
Chairman and county commissioner Harsama Kello said four people suspected to have instigated the disorder, and the supply of weapons to hawkers, were arrested.
Kello said one person was critically injured after a civilian, who was among those arrested, shot at a group of demonstrators.
“We have arrested him and the police are investigating to establish if he reasonably used his licensed weapon,” he said.
“Our initial investigation reveals there is nothing tribal here but a group of community members who are just appealing for justice in the distribution of stalls. The issue will be dealt with by the county government."
Kello said the council has names of other people suspected to have been behind the chaos, adding that it has been handed over to the CID.
He and Nkedianye spoke at a press briefing at Kaputei Hotel, attended by all of the county's security officials.
Nkedianye said; “This is a metropolitan town and we have all the tribes of Kenya here. I want everybody to go about their business without fear of intimidation."
"I assure you all that we will respect the rule of law and those inciting people will be handled by the respective organs of government."
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