Elders seated under a tree at Nosukuro village in Baringo south on November 4, 2019. (Kipsang Joseph, Standard)
For years, residents of Baringo County have known little peace due to insecurity.
In the sprawling bandit-prone villages, locals have been killed and animals stolen as the perpetrators walk scot-free.
However, hope is in alive. Order is slowly returning and peace now prevailing, with the once deserted villages coming back to life.
In February 2017, 19 areas of Baringo County were gazetted and declared disturbed and dangerous. Arabal, Kiserian, Mochongoi, Rugus, Mukutani, Chebinyiny, Komolion, Chepkalacha, Makutano, Paka, Orus, Loiywat, Silale, Nando, Tungulbei, Chepkererat, Kipnai, Ng’oron and Amaya were on the list.
SEE ALSO :Reprieve for autistic children as Baringo MCAs pass autism motion The listed villages were areas you would not ordinarily visit at night. In these areas, not even a single day would pass without a gunshot being heard. Spent cartridges were scattered all over and people carried guns openly even during the day.
Armed bandits would raid villages and drive away animals. Herders too would fight to conquer grazing and water points and push out residents. Herders whose livestock died in droughts would always want to re-stock.
Combined with the fact that the herders had acquired illegal guns, the areas were chaotic.
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Kibarchi Lecherus left her home in Nosukuro in 2005 in Baringo South, following an attack that saw her brother and three children killed. All their livestock were stolen.
Lecherus, 50, says she could not bear the pain and left her home. Despite the loss, she is happy that for the last two years the area has been silent. She says sounds of gunshots have greatly reduced.
SEE ALSO :Man under probe for human trafficking“Our ears would always ring to the sound of gunshots. I could not imagine such a time would come. The blast of guns always filled the air then but we hardly hear such nowadays,” she says.
Lecherus says they used to spend their nights in the bush for fear of attack.
Disarmament
Though peace has prevailed, she says the government should disarm the bandits.
At Nosukuro village, which has remained deserted for long, residents are back. Nosukuro Primary School, which closed in 2005, is now open and has 88 pupils.
SEE ALSO :Malaria outbreak confirmed, officials deny four have diedThe residents are trying to pick up the pieces and move on with life despite fears.
“There is peace, however most of us operate in fear. We have not had a major attack since we came back,” says Henry Lesita.
Lesita says they went back home after the government deployed 20 National Police Reservists there.
Kenneth Kiprop, another resident, says they are safe since the government deployed a team of Rapid Deployment Unit officers.
“Just the other day, schools reopened and some of us even started preparing our farms,” Kiprop says.
SEE ALSO :Stem spread of malaria in Tiaty constituencyAt Mukutani village, the pain and trauma of the happenings of March 2017 are slowly fading away and locals are moving on with life.
That year, 11 people, including four children and seven women, were killed in an early morning attack.
More than 100 families moved out of the village to stay in the camp in Marigat. For a year, the families stayed in camps and in October 2018, the camp was closed.
Warring communities have since come together and now farm at Lodorok Irrigation Scheme started in 2010 by World Vision, sharing water from River Murat, which is channelled to the farm by gravity.
At least 112 families share the resource as farming allows them to co-exist.
Margaret Seur, the chairperson of the project, says peace has prevailed. The mother of seven lost her husband in a bandit attack.
“We realised we need each other. That’s why we decided to come together and share resources. This will assist us move on and embrace one another,” Seur says.
Mukutani Day and Kapindasum primary schools were also re-opened.
Other areas that have experienced relative calm are Chemorongion, Arabal, Rugus, Ameyan and Kagir.
Baringo County Commissioner Henry Wafula says for the past two years, the area has been relatively calm, as banditry and cattle rustling have drastically gone down.
Wafula says Baringo North, parts of Baringo South and Tiaty were the areas most affected by banditry.
He says cooperation between the locals and leaders has made it possible to tame the evil.
“For two years the area has been relatively calm. The locals, area leaders and elders have joined hands with the police to fight the vice,” Wafula says.
He says the residents nowadays inform police of planned attacks, which are then foiled.
Wafula admits that there have been low scale attacks but police officers have been able to trail and recover stolen animals.
He says rogue police reservists used their guns to perpetrate violence. But the reservists are now disarmed.
On the table in his office is a file of recoveries made in the past years. What disturbs him is the fact that he has not been able to recover 13 cows stolen from Chemorongion on October 5, 2019.
Since 2018, more than 2,000 livestock, including cattle, goats, sheep and camels, have been stolen by bandits in Baringo North and Baringo South and driven towards Tiaty Sub-county.
Of the stolen animals, 1,439 have been recovered and officers are still pursuing the missing 568. “We have to be honest. When we recover we say so and when we don’t we also say we have not,” says Wafula.
He says there are 40 police reservists now stationed at Kapedo, 20 from the Pokot and another 20 from the Turkana community. Previously, the area had 457 police reservists.
The reservists were brought together so they may realise their role and service to the people and not communities they come from.
Baringo Police Commander Robinson Ndiwa said they have initiated viable ways and means to handle the bandits and rustlers.
Ndiwa says to succeed, they will have to be proactive.
Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya announced the government would embark on a disarmament mission.
Statistics show the region has more than 6,000 illegal guns in the hands of civilians. The guns are frequently used by bandits.
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Related Topics
Baringo CountyInsecurityBanditsCattle Rustling
