It’s time to end the massacres in valley of death

The killing of 14 people after a peace meeting a week ago has raised the number of those slain in the region ravaged by cattle-rustling to 962 in the last four years. It has also brought to the fore the Government’s inability to broadcast power in parts of the country. The chronology of attacks from 2012 is a chilling reminder that in pockets of this country, some Kenyans have come to regard themselves as second class citizens going by the lack of commitment by the State to meaningfully address the problem of insecurity.

When the government has intervened, it has been a knee-jerk response to the horrific nature of the attacks on civilians and public pressure to bring the perpetrators to book. Investigations into the attacks, when they have been launched, have been haphazard. In some cases, security agents have been deployed to the ground, but rather than conduct a diligent inquiry, they have harassed and tortured locals to gain information about the attackers. Attempts to deploy the military to keep order have been futile and controversial, in part because the Constitution does not allow it. Moreover without any clear strategy there is little chance that the military would resolve this crisis.

We appreciate that the problems associated with cattle rustling in the North Rift cannot be oversimplified — they have a cultural and historical dimension which would require behaviour change. However, questions must now be raised if the supply of weapons to home guards to guard against the threat is the best way to contain stock theft.

But perhaps of greater concern is the disinterest shown by civil society groups about the human rights violations in the North Rift. Although 962 deaths border on an atrocity, the response of NGOs has been uncharacteristically muted. The sense of outrage that has often been associated with terror attacks in major cities of the country is lacking when the killings are in this region. This disinterest is amplified by the limited documentation of judicial processes involving the perpetrators of the violence.

It will be encouraging to end the year with a strategy on how conflicts associated with stock theft in the North Rift will be addressed once and for all. We need to go beyond the peace talks initiated by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, and the inter-community talks among the warring groups -- the Pokot, the Turkana and the Samburu.

Conversations must begin about how, for example, we can use drone technology, and more advanced telecommunication systems to share information on logistics regarding this vast terrain.

Let us not pretend to show interest in this region only when the exploration of oil fields, or other pecuniary interests, are threatened. These Kenyans deserve to live in peace and the Government owes it to them.