Cattle rustling is nothing new in Kenya. From the times of our forefathers different tribes have been raiding each other to obtain cattle and women. – By Daniel Mulila.
This was a story of the past for most tribes but not so for the Turkana and West Pokot tribes. Being neighbors and coming from a semi arid region they kept up this practice for a while until the government stepped in to quell the insecurity.
This in the writers view was sparked when banditry was introduced.
Uzalendo News banditry came about as a result of the Turkana peoples inability to raid and sell cattle belonging to the West Pokot while the West Pokot had no problem in executing the raid and selling of the Turkana cattle.
For you to understand this it is important to get the lay of the land. West pokot is the county just before Turkana.
As such the West Pokot used to raid the Turkanas and cross into their land heading to sell the cattle in other counties while the Turkanas would raid the West Pokot but cannot sell the cattle because for them to access the market they have to transverse across West Pokot county.
This was no easy task as this two tribes new each other so well they can tell even via a footprint whether an individual is from their tribe.
I found this interesting and enquired how a footprint could identify someone’s tribe. It so happens that the West Pokot live in a hilly region while the Turkana live on plains.
Because of the hills the West Pokot tend to dig deeper in the ground as they are used to climbing uphill and as such exert more pressure on their toes than the Turkanas.
The Turkanas were loosing their livelihood with no real means of earning them back and the government was doing nothing to help.
They then opted to rob anyone traversing through their county. Due to bad roads and availability of guns for cattle rustling they took over the roads in their county killing, stealing and raping anyone travelling the roads.
This was a wake up call to the government who now sent security forces to escort tourists, donors and other road users. This was an exercise in futility because they were not dealing with the root cause. Cases declined but did not stop.
Enters the super cop Inspector Sala of the RDU unit. He had seen first hand the horrors perpetuated by the bandits and wanted to end it all. His first task was to rid the county of bandits.
Within a short period of time they all faced the long arm of the law. He involved the local communities in making sure there was lasting peace by confiscating the guns and engaging the communities on dialogue.
As we speak the West Pokot are now grazing their cattle in Turkana and vice versa. There’s not a single bandit on the road and it is now safe for travel.
