The recent video by a leader and opinion maker where there were utterances, “Pokots are bandits and all bandits are Pokots,” amounted to hate speech and an impression, the entire community are bandits.
Unfortunately, a leader can utter such words in front of glaring cameras.
Is it not justifiable to assert that at times the law can be applied selectively or is it that some people are more important and superior than others?
It worries me as a patriotic citizen to see the law being bend to suit some quarters at some point and in another, the law is tightened.
The biggest conspiracy of our time is the fact the Pokot people have been portrayed as gun-wielders, bandits and cattle rustlers.
I once said cattle rustling in Kenya is no longer a cultural fete but a cash cow fattened not by the perpetrators but by a syndicate of greedy personages that people in power may or may not be aware of.
But many have had the belief that Pokot people are the genesis of strife in the North Rift, which is not the case.
Cattle rustling may not have been the mainstay of the Pokot community but a booming business of the rich few who hide in maligning the beautiful name of the peace-loving Pokot people.
There is more that we are being fed with. The Laikipia massacre stories and the clashes between West Pokot, Baringo and Turkana counties, and the situation in the entire northern frontier counties is a lucrative venture for some quarters.
For many, a Pokot is a killer, brutal, sadist and masochist.
I think it is because of the information they have received.
Historically, a typical Pokot is a calm, composed and humane person. It is in their DNA to live in peace and co-exist peacefully.
From time immemorial, the media has misreported, misrepresented and misattributed facts concerning the Pokots.
The issue of media generalising information, not crosschecking facts, failing to ascertain the truth, relying on hearsay and untrusted sources are rife and unfair to the community.
Issues touching on cattle rustling have been branded as a Pokots mainstay and source of livelihood, which is not the case.
The 2019 census report revealed 40 per cent of West Pokot is an agricultural zone, and thus enhances food production and livestock rearing.
With these substantive facts, where is the veracity of the allegation that Pokots are cattle rustlers and serial killers?
The social anthropology and the cultural disposition of the Pokots have everything to do with respecting the sanctity of life.
To shed blood is an omen and detested in the community.
The community tales and myths are normally a reflection of societal values and cultures; none of the tales has talked of battles, war songs and bloodshed.
Indeed, it is bad for a community to be negatively represented, and looked at from the social prism of warmongers and killers devoid of sufficient facts and substantive evidence to warrant the same.
On many occasions, the misfortunes of the Pokots are given a deaf year by the government and the media too gives blackout to their woes, but flushes the negative stories regarding Pokots in the headlines and teasers, and instead sweeps under the carpet the truth.
The government needs to see the reality and not the illusions from streets and peddlers of lies without full proof.
The government has to prioritise the security of its citizens without infringing the rights of others.
With this, I am certain that the truth shall be found and reported objectively.
A communication practitioner who regularly comments on topical issues
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
