The riddle of serial banditry attacks in the Rift Valley, illegally acquired high caliber weaponry in the hands of herders and hundreds of thousands of cattle worth billions of shillings stolen each year can be solved once the beneficiaries of the somewhat thriving war economy in the region are exposed and brought to book.
Past security operations in the area just like the planned disarmament operation to mop up all illegal guns in the hands of civilians within the volatile Elgeyo Marakwet have borne little fruits if any.
Hundreds of civilians and police officers are killed by the militia-like bandits who wreak havoc displacing thousands of people.
In 2012, 42 police officers were massacred in Suguta valley during a botched security operation to recover stolen cattle. In a synonymous ambush attack by bandits, 21 officers were slaughtered and their vehicle burnt down in Kapedo where Kenya Defence Forces are currently undertaking mop up exercise of illicit weapons in civilians’ hands.
At least 19 Administration Police officers and three civilians were killed at Suguta Valley by bandits who made away with more than 2,000 bullets, resulting in a joint operation by the military and the police in the area.
Police response to the volatile area has always been blamed to bad terrain and sophisticated weapons possessed by the raiders.
However, successive disarmament exercise by the government have not yielded much results.
In 2015, a government delegation led by former Deputy Inspector General, Kenya Police Service Grace Kaindi escaped death narrowly after their helicopter came under intense firepower from the raiders in Kalpat area in Nadome while disembarking from a police helicopter.
Currently, hundreds of families in the Rift Valley region have lost their lives while others fled their homes due to bandit attacks.
Traders in the region are also counting losses after many businesses closed due to fears of the attacks despite promises by the government to contain armed conflicts.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i ordered a security operation in parts of the North Rift region, as well as the immediate arrest of leaders funding bandits.
The CS also ordered that cultural leaders administering oaths to ‘bless’ bandits and other invasion missions be arrested.
During the security meeting held last Friday, tough-speaking CS and the leaders resolved that tough measures needed to be instituted to curb banditry in the pastoral region.
“We recommended the arrest and prosecution of political leaders and government officials misusing the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) and government (GK) vehicles to source and distribute guns and ammunition and to coordinate attacks,” he said.
He also approved an immediate crackdown operation to evict invaders in the Muchongoi area of Baringo South and further directed that the deployment be ruthless and to employ maximum available power including aerial operations.
The leaders also proposed the immediate recruitment of National Police Reservists in the affected area to beef up security and construction of an Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) camp in Chesogon, West Pokot County.
Although Matiang’i has ordered additional deployment of security officers to the region, local leaders say the problem is getting out of hand.
The National Police Service deploys police officers to the region, however, many of them end up shot or killed during the operation to fight armed bandits and recover stolen livestock.
In January, a constable in Samburu East was killed by two assailants with G3 rifles while the other officers were out on patrol at Lerata police post.
Investigations revealed that the assailants had tricked the officer, Constable Moses Mwambia, that they needed drinking water.
In November last year, four police officers were shot as they attempted to recover more than 400 head of cattle stolen in Samburu County.
A police spokesman in Rift Valley Province said the officers were ambushed by a militia from the Turkana ethnic community.
In Laikipia, three officers were killed while enforcing security in the region.
Former Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya accused area leaders of financing the youth causing unrest in the region by providing them with food and guns, as they continue with their raids.
“We have received reports that some of the owners of the livestock are saying they will remove them from the ranches and bring 500 Morans to fight with the security officers. This means that these are planned attacks to ensure the area has no peace,” Natembeya said.
Tiaty Member of Parliament William Kamket and ex-MP Mathew Lempurkel were both taken into custody in connection with the bloody skirmishes that rocked Laikipia.
Lempurkel, former Laikipia North legislator, was charged at the Milimani law courts in Nairobi as Kamket, who was arrested at his Kositei home in Baringo, was taken to Nakuru law courts under tight security.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) had stated that on July 11 and July 21 last year, Lempurkel made the utterances when he appeared on a Maa TV show.
However, the magistrate questioned why the police were bringing the politician in court to be remanded instead of being charged with incitement.
“Between July 11 and today, it has been almost two months since the police swung into action. Police were aware of the alleged incitement remarks. If he incited the Maa community to rise against other communities, it is questionable why the State is bringing him to court not to charge but remand him,” said the magistrate.
Preliminary investigations on the Tiaty MP reveal that some of the attackers are his workers.
National Police Spokesperson Bruno Shioso said the security operation has led to the exit of illegal herders from the Laikipia Nature Conservancy.
Additionally, Shioso said they are adopting NPRs as a homegrown solution in the fight against endemic cattle rustling.
In West Pokot, Baringo, Laikipia, Turkana and Samburu counties, in northwestern and central Kenya, cattle raids have been fuelled by the proliferation of small arms smuggled into the country.
A 2015 Kenya Police report indicates that cattle raiders’ weapons originate from neighboring countries with internal strife, particularly Somalia and South Sudan.
In recent years, the raids have grown deadly, with a sharp rise in the number of people killed during attacks.
Gangs of gun-slinging raiders usually storm villages at night, shooting people on sight before driving away entire herds of cattle, sheep and goats, leaving entire communities devastated.
In November, Deputy President, William Ruto, oversaw the destruction of at least 5,250 guns recovered over the past nine years, a fraction of the estimated 500,000-plus illegal firearms in the country – most of which are owned by pastoralists. Disarmament efforts have so far yielded little progress.
In the mostly lawless Suguta Valley, the ethnic Turkana, Samburu and Pokot are both victims and raiders, and cattle rustling has led to revenge attacks.
The area goes unpoliced after one of the deadliest attacks on Kenyan police in 2012, in which 32 policemen pursuing stolen cattle were ambushed and killed.
While resigning, Natembeya said tougher measures need to be put in place to end banditry in the Kerio Valley.
He called for more commitment to peace by leaders from the affected communities.
“Voluntary disarmament has not worked and the time has come to consider forceful disarmament because there are so many illegal guns in the wrong hands in that region,” he said.