Politics, poor infrastructure fan insecurity in North Rift

Lack of enough security vehicles, modern weaponry, impassable roads and poor network coverage hampering communication are some of the major challenges in confronting insecurity in Northern Kenya.

In addition, lack of clear boundaries and political inteference are also fueling perennial insecurity in the volatile areas of Northern Kenya leading to incessant killings and theft of livestock among the pastoralist communities.

Yesterday, Turkana County Commissioner Jacob Ouma while appearing before the Senate National Security and Defense committee said politicians are sponsoring cattle rustling for commercial purposes.

According to Ouma, commercialization of the cattle rustling and banditry are sponsored by cartels for financial benefit.

In his submission before the committee chaired by Baringo Senator William Cheptumo, Ouma explained that politicians are funding the cattle rustling in return for herds of livestock they steal from within and beyond the community.

“How then do you explain how 5,000 animals are stolen before disappearing in thin air without a trace? Where do they pass through yet there are roadblocks all over? There is a lot of money put in by the cartels who have mastered the art of sponsoring the raids,” said Ouma.

The county commissioner further divulged that politicians are also using boundary disputes to fuel banditry in the area by pitting communities against each other.

“If the political class came out and condemned violence, then we will be done with 60 percent of the problems.”

Boundary disputes

“Boundary disputes fueled by politicians is an elephant in the room. The sooner we are prepared to bite the bullet, the better. If we came out clearly and declared the boundaries then the security units will be able to carry out enforcement without any doubt in their minds,” he said.

The county commissioner said the government has put in measures to contain insecurity in the area by deploying various security matrix in the county.

He said the Ministry of Interior has deployed GSU, RDU, anti-stock theft unit to complement police in the area turning the once notorious highway of death from Kainuk, Lokichar, Lokol, Kapedo to Lomelol as well as Lami Nyeusi corridor into a fairly secure place.

“To fetch water was a matter of life and death. Morning exchange of fire is no longer there as the deployment of GSU has really helped. But to move from fair to good, we need goodwill from the political class within Turkana and beyond,” said Ouma.

Heightened security

This has led to heightened security patrol in the area with the various security apparatus taking charge of exterior parts of the county by blocking areas used by the bandits to access the county. According to Ouma, politicians have also infiltrated the process of recruitment of National Police Reservists (NPRs), a move he charged has led to creation of bandits masquerading as Police reservists.

Instead, the County Commissioner said that the government should try to divorce politicians and sectorial interests from the recruitment process to have a better working NPR, a unit critical in quelling the insecurity in the area. “Most politicians are only angling to have their own people in the NPR and this has led to goons and bandits masquerading as NPR,” he said.

Incorporated to NPRs

Ouma argued that until locals are largely incorporated as part of the NPR, there will be no powerful unit capable of handling the continuous and vicious cycles of banditry killings in the area.

“Hostility from the locals making it difficult to obtain information from the residents when they are the aggressors. Omondi or Kariuki will never understand the Turkana terrain better than the locals. They know the hideouts and how to get to such places and can easily get intelligence from residents,” he said.

Ouma further told the committee that Turkana currently has only 625 NPRs, adding some 1,090 more are needed to complement police and other security formations in the area. However the county commissioner, called for proper training and orientation of the NPRs before being deployed, citing that other peripheral factors contributing to the insecurity including competition for pasture, water resources and cultural practices where there is demand for animals as bride price as well as livestock being a status symbol is perpetuating cattle rustling.