Press release from Diaspora Community

Monday, 07 February 2022 07:43

Press release from Diaspora Community ^Featured

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Our attention has been drawn to a distressing video which went viral in Baringo county social media forums earlier this week, February 1, 2022

. Mochongoi Member of County Assembly (MCA) Hon. Kipruto Kimosop, while addressing the press from Kasiela area narrated how raiders attacked people in the area, stole livestock, killed two brothers, and injured scores of people and livestock. The blood chilling story did not end there. The bandits dismembered one of the dead brothers and took away an arm.

Reports from the past indicate that these domestic terrorists have a penchant for dismembering bodies to entrench fear on their victims and also to use the body parts for ‘ritual cleansing’ after their raids. It is also noteworthy that two days before this incident, two other people were butchered in yet another raid in the neighboring Arabaal area.

These incidences caused closure of 10 schools, loss of over 300 livestock, and displaced families. About one thousand families were forced to flee from their homes to safety. Sadly, majority of women and children scampered to the scrubland for safety. May it be known that these butchers hide in these same forests.

Several published sources within local media houses report that over 70 people have been killed, 5,000 families displaced, and more than 10,000 livestock stolen in similar incidences since 2005. Cattle rustling is on the increase in Baringo and Kerio valley region (formerly rift valley).

This is a region with many security problems, chief among them Banditry insurgency. In the north-Baringo , south Baringo region, herdsmen militancy has become a key security concern.

Baringo , which used to be the bastion of security and stability, has been hit hard by rural banditry. Cattle rustling has reached alarming heights in recent months. Bandits terrorize villages with impunity. They have settled around the borders, setting up fortified shelters , from where they plot and carry out their operations. What drives rural banditry? Crime thrives in contexts where there’s little deterrence. In most of Baringo and neighboring counties communities, there are many opportunities for criminal activity.

For one thing, some of these communities are located in remote areas where there is little or no government presence. This situation is made worse by the absence of effective community policing mechanisms capable of addressing peculiar security challenges.

In effect, the incidence and prevalence of rural banditry in Baringo county raises a fundamental question about the government’s ability to tame the vice. The state security machinery has so far failed to tackle the scourge of banditry.

This failure stems from a lack of political will and operational challenges. Essentially, the prevailing socio-existential conditions in this region have complicated the security situation. The rural pastoral sector is not regulated. Illicit arms trade and the proliferation of arms in the region are also veritable factors. Geography plays a role, too. Baringo county is vast, rugged and hilly with poor infrastructure. Borders are poorly delineated, under-policed and thus not well governed.

The consequence of this is an abundance of nefarious activity, often facilitated by criminal syndicates.. The movement of cattle – is poorly regulated. This has seen it being infiltrated by criminals, which has led to the intensification of cattle rustling in the region. Impacts, implications and solution Cattle rustling and other causes of insecurity in Northern / Southern Baringo have been allowed to degenerate into a complex national emergency with dire territorial implications.

There’s no more effective solution than forceful policing. Such policing must deal with the region’s peculiar circumstances of diverse borderlines especially to the north and southern borders. This requires a tactical synergy between grassroots police reservists and the state security operatives.

The National government’s current counter banditry effort, based on military reconnaissance and disarmament , is good and commendable. But it has failed to bring about the needed respite, owing largely to the operational challenges arising from insufficient knowledge of the terrain. This makes the involvement of KPR (kenya police reserve) and community watch groups, who have a better knowledge of the terrain, more important.

However, to guard against possible excesses and abuse, people in these structures must be properly trained, equipped and supervised. The way forward, then, is the development of grassroots policing, enriched by local personnel and grassroot intelligence. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) - Small, battery-less microchips can be attached to cattle to track their movements Aerial surveilance using drones and baloons may be used for security surveillance and aerial photography.

Conclusion As Baringo Diasporians, we are deliberate in the mention of these gruesome traditional rituals because these raids are in essence archaic traditional practices which the country’s leadership has either turned a blind eye to or players within the administration have found an inhumane way of amassing personal wealth through tolerating or perpetuating insecurity as a cheap source of beef for regional markets.

Traditional practices which could have been resolved through education in an area with Kenya’s lowest school per capita ratio! We are deliberate in expressing deep distress and sorrow to note that matters of education and capacity building towards finding alternative sources of income generation in a bid to move away from herding in order to curb rustling has been abandoned by the government or left to the Church and non-governmental organizations

We are deliberate in our desperation and frustration when witnessing repeated mutilation of hope for peace for our people by government agencies that we registered our support towards the grassroot leadership in taking charge to foster peace amongst the rivaling communities. We are deliberate in calling national government agencies to review and re-evaluate their priorities for the people of Baringo.

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