While "fruits" of insecurity may simply pass as deaths and destruction of properties, an interesting aspect touching on the plight of victims of insecurity and measures geared at improving their social and economic conditions has conspicuously missed out in a number of State-sanctioned interventions in the recent past.
Something is definitely wrong here. The question, therefore, is: Could there be a deliberate move to view the finality of banditry through the lenses of pursuing combatants and forgetting the reconstruction segment that is supposed to impact positively on victims' lives?
I have followed closely the bandit menace bedeviling northern Kenya. I have gone through a great deal of documentation, government reports, records from NGO and faith-based organizations to figure out whether reconstruction as a pillar of conflict resolution is actually implemented. What pops up, however, is rather scary.
From these reports, it is evident that much efforts and resources have been directed towards peace building initiatives - (what is generally referred to as community reconciliation meetings.)
In most cases, you could find a single entity running parallel "peace building meetings" in the same locality, targeting the same audience giving an impression that it is lack of steady, constructive dialogue that fuels banditry up there.
The underlying issue here isn't fostering peaceful relations. It is wholly a competition to write reports; no matter the outcome of the said meetings. You see, it takes even a numskull to figure out that this is a big obstacle to successful empowerment of victims.
While it is not entirely solid to dispute that dialogue is an integral aspect in any peace building process, over-reliance on it as the "only" way to peaceful co-existence of the people countenances the very same foundation it is supposed to build. Dialogues, community peace talks, leaders' peace forums, meet-the-people initiatives et al must be punctuated by reconstruction of victims' livelihoods for peace to rein.
A critical look of the resources allocated to the aforementioned "peace talks" reveals a rather damning reality of how a tiny, well-connected clique of individuals is dancing all the way to their bank accounts. Mark you, peace building in these "bandit territories" is a big business. Endless bloodshed translates to steady income to this group. It is therefore foolhardy to bank our hopes on such a thieving squad to divert their attention to reconstructing the livelihoods of banditry victims. They cannot.
A case in point is the humongous allowances these NGO people plus their government hangers-on (no pun intended) pocket on daily basis to listen to village talks, masked as peace talks, spearheaded by villagers who can hardly walk due to hunger and diseases.
Good people, isn't this commercialisation of the people, by their own sons and daughters, for their own narrow interests? For how long shall we maintain silence in the face of an existential enemy that is high-level thievery and hypocrisy?
I am no entertainer of theatrics and empty rhetoric as panacea to perennial banditry. Many generations of leaders in times past have pushed for policing as a solution to banditry. I must acknowledge that a number of police posts have been established along banditry hot-spots. Some semblance of order is undoubtedly visible in those places.
The tipping point, after this endless policing, has remained off the table. This goes on to cement the skewed understanding of banditry, not only as a security problem, but as a social and economic problem.
Put it differently, anytime banditry creates a new victim, we rush to security "solutions" forgetting that victims need food. Victims need education. Victims need health. Victims need economic empowerment in order to support themselves as opposed to depending on food rations.
This, my people, has to change if the interests of the people remain our guiding star. We must rethink our strategies. We must listen to victims. We must respond to their demands. Only when these happen shall we celebrate that reconstruction of victims' livelihood has actually succeeded.
It takes a leader with an eye of the people, with a heart of the suffering, with a bleeding soul to decipher the joyous aftermath of empowered victims. Governor Nanok, your time to lead the crowd is now. The people of Turkana County will eternally remember you in this. Do something to banditry victims.
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