Act decisively to avert security crisis and restore calm in Baringo

The spectacle that greets someone visiting Baringo County is that of fresh graves, closed schools and shops, destruction to property and deserted villages. This is occasioned by simmering animosity between the Pokot on one hand and the Samburu and Turkana on the other. It is a problem that has persisted for decades. Kenya faces serious security challenges, not only from the threat of terrorists, but from banditry and warring communities. Cattle rustling has become synonymous with the Pokots in Baringo County. During this year’s Labour Day celebrations, the President admitted the country was still a long way from being secure.

From December 2014 when the Kainuk Bridge between Lodwar and Kitale was blocked by angry residents seeking to draw the Government’s attention to rampant insecurity in the area, the inability by security forces to take charge has emboldened the Pokots to intensify attacks on other communities. It is instructive that, while speaking to journalists last week, Internal Security Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery denied any knowledge of attacks by the Pokot and asked anybody with information to volunteer it to the police.