Nkaissery must end Turkana-Pokot war

Kainuk in South Turkana is back in the news for all the wrong reasons. Photos in mainstream and social media of residents demonstrating that ‘Tumechoka kuzika’ (we are tired burying) would bring tears to any eye.

Yes, the village of 300 graves and as many widows is telling the nation that they, too, have a Right to Life. But is anyone listening?

Fifteen years ago colleagues and I closed the main Kitale-Lodwar road in the border village for the first time to highlight the vulnerability of the Turkana community.

While the area then experienced reduction in loss of life for a decade, the resumption of the slaughter since the discovery of oil and the coming to power of the Jubilee administration has reached dangerous levels.

Not just in Kainuk, but Lorogon, Nakwamoru and 200 kilometres away in Kapedo, Turkanas appear to be under siege from their Pokot neighbours in a manner that cannot be dismissed as traditional cattle rustling. What is going on appears more like planned expansionism together with utter lawlessness to which the interior security ministry has chosen to turn a blind eye.

The area around the Turkwell Gorge has been contested ever since the power plant, one of Kenya’s first mega corruption deals, was constructed nearly three decades ago. The Kanu solution to the contested territory was to appoint chiefs in both counties as administrators of the same location.

TRANSFORM THE CONFLICT

Working with both communities, however, we managed to temporarily transform the conflict by campaigning for both the Pokot and Turkana to access power as initially all electricity generated at the gorge was transferred directly to the national grid 200 kilometres away. That brought change but not resolution, and today, the area is a war zone.

This week, two Pokot Police Reserves were gunned down and vehicles carrying water to Turkana burnt to cinders. That led to more protests in Kapenguria, as the Pokot mourned their slain children.

A few months ago, 21 police officers were gunned down in Kapedo in a confessed “mistaken” identity slaughter that had no repercussions. This week, the county government of Turkana has gone to court to demand that the national government address the boundaries and insecurity issue.

Thankfully, they are turning to the force of law rather than the law of force. But can the Judiciary grant a win-win verdict?

Something more inclusive is required to compliment the legal approach.

Cabinet Secretary Nkaissery must wake up, too, and flex his muscles.

Criminals on either side need to be treated accordingly, but neither community needs to be criminalised or victimised if cohesion is the goal.

Talk of repairing the Kitale-Lokichoggio road has just remained at that noisy level. Both communities would benefit from decent access to Sudan, where Pokots could sell their cement, and Turkanas find opportunities denied to them at home.

Both communities have far more in common than they would dare to admit. But both counties have elected representatives that have no idea of what democracy entails. Other voices need to be heard, who will expose the warlords and bring sanity and harmony back to the vast area.

[email protected] @GabrielDolan1