Resolve conflict in Kisumu-Nandi county border

There have been disturbing reports on escalation of clashes between communities living along the Kisumu and Nandi county border in Songhor West Location. By the end of last week, three people had been killed and hundreds more injured amid reports that raiders who torched houses faced little resistance because law enforcement agencies were caught flat-footed.

The late deployment of 400 police officers to the region should help quell the fighting. The government should now move with speed to resettle the 500 displaced families and ensure vulnerable groups are not left out during this season of extreme cold weather.

Police patrols must be stepped up in the area to contain the rising cases of cattle theft and lawlessness.

Cattle rustling in the sometimes volatile Nyando sugar belt is often the precursor to the violence that erupts between members of the dominant ethnic communities in the area. It triggered the fighting when 10 people were killed last year, and the conflict is threatening to become more vicious if nothing is done to initiate sustainable peace keeping efforts.

We must chide the local leaders who led rowdy groups in stopping a peace-making initiative by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) led by its chairman Francis ole Kaparo. Local leaders must be cautious in their utterances and must not incite local youths to take up arms and attack their neighbours, no matter the provocation. We have seen renewed attempts by authorities to clamp down on incitement and currently a number of legislators have been arraigned in court to answer to charges of hate speech. Kenyans must be unrelenting in the pursuit of peace.

Leaders must drive overtures to create harmony among the communities living around the Kisumu-Nandi county border. Local people must be convinced that the pursuit of peaceful interventions are sustainable and their input in this process will be invaluable. In Songhor West Location, locals have asked the government to make good its promise and establish a police station in the region, which has been the epicenter of some of the cattle rustling activities. Leaders have also asked for establishment of an Anti-stock Theft Unit. We believe this is not too much to ask.

Ultimately, more must be done to address the flashpoints of violence in many of the counties that border each other. With the 2017 General Election fast approaching, conflict issues at these flash points can be exploited by politicians, and with excitable potential voters doing their bidding, these regions can metamorphose into dangerous conflict zones. As a starting point, let’s contain the violence in the Kisumu-Nandi county border.