Morans or just criminals?

They have been engaging in assault, robbery with violence and abduction of school girls in the guise of culture. The community is now fed up and wants action from Government.

By Kipchumba Kemei

They were revered and respected. Now they are feared and loathed. Over the last 16 years, Maasai morans have slowly been engaging in acts of lawlessness that were swept under the carpet. Today, they have become the law in Narok and neigbouring areas where they are committing crimes like killings and violent robbery with impunity.

The development has led to people, including community leaders to call for the cultural review or disbanding of moranism, because it is no longer serving the purpose it was supposed to.

The cultural rite is meant to turn boys into responsible adults, capable of defending the community during times of violence while observing certain norms.

A moran, culture dictates, should not engage in acts that might injure his reputation like being involved in crime. He should be seen by the community as a pillar of hope in times of desperation and the defender of the weak, including women.

But in recent times, they have unleashed violence on the very weak and needy they should be protecting.

When in 1995 they killed a person in Narok town and engaged in acts of looting, the community members and opinion leaders started calling for the practice to be done away with.

Two weeks ago, a band of marauding Maasai morans descended on a girls’ boarding school in Narok South demanding to take them to their manyattas as wives.

Illegal

Students of Enkare Nairowa boarding secondary school who were in class fled when the morans, armed with spears, bolt studded rungus and swords entered the compound just before lunchtime.

The act contravened the girls’ constitutional rights of security and accessing education unhindered.

The group staged a sit-in at the school for about two hours, vowing not to leave until they were allowed to take the girls to the manyattas where they reside for marriage ceremonies.

"We cannot leave here until we take the girls to marry them. Life in the camps without wives is difficult," said Kitilai Kirempe, who spoke for the group, which is camping at two manyattas near Ewaso-Nyiro trading centre, about 25 kilometres from the school.

Students who had fled to a thicket and to a neighbouring trading centre, however, returned when the morans who had been prevailed upon to leave by a group of Maasai elders left.

But they promised to go back if the elders failed to look for young wives for them, claiming that they were almost past the mandatory age to marry.

The morans who reluctantly left the school compound also vowed not to graduate and leave the camps before elders arranged marriage ceremonies for them.

"We respect the elders and that is why we have to leave. But we will come back if they fail to assist us to get married before we graduate into adulthood," said one of them, who had at one point threatened to beat up journalists who had gone to cover the incident.

Last month, a group of morans laid a siege at Ewaso-Nyiro trading centre during market day where they beat up people, stole from them and even looted shops before fleeing back to their manyattas.

An elderly man who volunteered to prevail upon them to go back to their camps was slashed in the forehead. He was taken to Narok North District Hospital where his face was stitched up before being admitted.

Earlier, they had attempted to loot beer and an assortment of alcoholic drinks from bars in the trading centre.

In the last six months, they have been roaming about in Narok town and other trading centres beating up people including young and elderly women and stealing from them, prompting calls from residents and some politicians that the culture should be done away with.

Petty gifts

They argue that moranism had outlived its usefulness and asked those who support it, including politicians, to change their minds and allow the young boys to pursue education.

During their long stay in camps, the warriors who undergo counselling from elders enjoy free things by politicians who have over the years encouraged the practice. Every time these politicians visit, bulls are slaughtered for the morans.

Narok South DC Chimwaga Mongo and the area District Education Officer Nicolas Obiri who visited Enkare Nairowa Secondary School condemned the incident and asked politicians and opinion leaders to help end the cultural rite.

"When morans invade a school, disrupting learning activities, it is a clear indication that the culture, which was once noble, has outlived its usefulness. As a short-term measure, police will be deployed to all schools to prevent them from disrupting learning and the on- going national examinations," said Mongo.

Obiri asked local leaders including chiefs and community leaders to confine the warriors in their camps until they graduate into adulthood next month to prevent them from invading girls’ learning institutions and taking the law in their hands.

The Government has said it will take action against Maasai morans who have lately been engaged in acts of lawlessness in Narok County.

The South Rift Regional Commissioner Naftali Mungathia said morans on the loose have abdicated their traditional roles as defenders of the community and have engaged in crimes like assault and robbery.

"The Government will not sit back and watch them take the law in their hands. Police have firm instructions to arrest them whenever they engage in acts of lawlessness," said Mungathia.

"The Provincial Administration will enlist the support of elders in taming the morans who are now being viewed as a liability. Discipline should now be instilled in them," he added.

Mr Mungathia asked community leaders to prevail upon the warriors to maintain peace.

"They should remain in their camps until they graduate. It is now disturbing that they have decided to invade schools, scaring girls whose annual enrollment is always dismal," said Mungathia.

Eldoret North MP William Ruto also condemned the lawlessness.

"Law enforcement agencies should arrest and charge morans on the loose in Narok County because they have become thugs in red shukas," he said in Narok.

The warriors have been misused by politicians and have now become thugs.