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| Photo COURTESY: UNDP |
February 3rd saw the Senate Committee on National Security under the leadership of Senator Yusuf Haji descend on Kapedo, Turkana County in what the media reported as a fact-finding mission in a bid to address the insecurity challenges facing the region. The place, without a doubt, grabbed national psyche thanks to the infamous killing of 21 police officers some time last year.
As expected, the aftermath was more of a reactionary gesture than a concrete move to eliminate the deadly virus bedeviling the area. The President's impromptu visit to the area didn't restore order either.
Though recent killings targeting security officers and locals may pass as the usual 'banditry-related deaths' that characterize northern Kenya in general, and Turkana and West Pokot Counties in particular, several points could help us figure out where the trouble is.
The media has, with all due respects, veered off the road by resorting to churn out half-baked stories branding the lawlessness in the area as mere cattle-rustling involving some ‘illiterate gun-wielding bandits’ even when dynamics have totally changed and new econo-political thinking has come to the fore to shape the 'tussles' we witness up there.
Perhaps this can be blamed on the vastness of the area and the amount of efforts needed to unearth the volumes of stories related to these endless conquests. But still some questions linger: Could there be real stories behind the usual banditry stories? Don't pastoralists' lives matter to warrant our national outrage and attention? Or are the actors involved too powerful to be exposed?
(In)security paradigms in Kenya seem to be shaped by dominant economic activities in each particular area. Media reports and government strategies too tend to be inseparable from what can be described as the perceived outcome attached to particular places. ‘Low-potential areas’ tend to receive little/no state attention as opposed to ‘High-potential areas’.
Let's explain. We have been accustomed to believe that cattle-rustling is a mere act of theft and not robbery with violence just because it happens somewhere away from the capital. This, to be straight, is where we fail to link 'banditry' to greed for newfound natural resources in the area.
To get a clear perspective of what actually happens on the ground, let's map out the worst-hit areas in Turkana. Kapedo boasts of geothermal potential, proximity to Lokichar and Lokori oil basins. Kainuk sits on rich unexploited agricultural lands, has a favourable climate, a national game reserve, a strategic geographical position and a permanent river. Lorogon borders the Turkwel hydro-electric power plant and also boasts of agricultural potential.
A quick analysis of the strategies used by 'bandits' in the recent past reveals a rather scary scheme by people hell-bent at causing more pain on a poor population. They ambush, hit and kill and go. Livestock comes as a second thought. These places have been reduced to open air prisons where people no longer move out freely, till their land or even graze their livestock. The key intention is probably to instill fear on the people and instigate mass exodus out of the areas.
Now, connect all these to claims that certain places (perhaps the ones cited above) are 'illegally' occupied by certain communities allegedly attributed to some political figures and you get the real picture of this unreported 'banditry'.
Some leaders have come out openly to claim ownership of areas where you would hardly find their constituents. Kapedo comes to mind. A quick look at this disputed area gives a glimpse of the undercurrents that trigger tribal hatred between Turkanas and Pokots.
People have been 'weaponized' to advance the interests of faceless figures seeking to reap big from the region's natural wealth. It is this greed that fuels killings. Cattle theft is far detached from it.
It is expansionism per se laced with high-level greed for resources!
Which beggars many questions: For how long shall we remain pigeon-holed to believe media's and government’s common narrative that banditry is to blame for killings in northern Kenya? Where is the boldness of those who claim to stand for Kenya to stand up and demand that these faceless expansionists be revealed and punished?
Let's remember that these regions are still part of Kenya. Their troubles will eventually hurt us all if we fail to act now. Confront these greedy expansionists and peace and prosperity will reign within our borders. Honesty and clear-mindedness are needed to achieve this.
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