High-calibre and precision weapons deployed by the multiagency security team to fight banditry may not achieve much. More needs to be done to end banditry.
Some of us fled our homes because of banditry. I fled my village of Kabirion, in Kabirwek location, Baringo North constituency, in 1978.
My village is on the border between Baringo North and Tiaty constituency. My parents and other siblings have never returned. It's only last month that I returned after warring communities of the Pokot and my clansmen the Tugen decided to put arms down.
For the rest of Kenyans, banditry and cattle rustling are terms used in the media; they may not feel or even visualise the negative effects. Most of these areas where cattle rustling thrives are remote and there is totally no development.
First, places like Kabirwek have no mobile phone network. But Safaricom is opening up the area to the rest of the country by installing a communication mast. This will go a long way to ensure that the residents can communicate with the rest of the Country and eventually the whole world.
Despite the rough terrain, these places have no roads. Currently, the NGO I head - Borders Community Peacenet-Africa, and the Anti Cattle rustling programme that I am in charge of, together with the Baringo government and the national government, are building a new road.
The warring communities here are the Pokot, Tugen and Marakwet. They have over the years raided each other, stolen livestock and killed one another. The bandits from these communities have always taken advantage of the terrain and lack of roads.
Security personnel have been unable to access some of these areas due to impassable roads. We are now clearing bushes and the Kinyach-Kapturo-Kabirwek road is taking shape. The road will go around Chebarcholom Hill in Tiaty subcounty.
The road will link the residents to the tarmac running from Marigat to Chemolingot. Once the bushes are cleared, and perhaps tarmacked in future, it will be the shortest route for residents who live in Marakwet lowland and Tot areas to travel to Nakuru. On this road, we will instal CCTV cameras to monitor movement and avert crime in time.
These areas do not also have schools. To end banditry, we have to change the mindset of the current generation. Let’s start schools and once the idle children are enlightened, they will want to rival their city counterparts and they will also demand digital learning, which has been embraced by children in urban areas.
It’s a fact that educated people are less likely to fight and will always sit down and resolve their differences.
There are also no hospitals in these areas. We have to build dispensaries for the residents. Some of the residents still depend on the archaic traditional forms of treatment and at times, they are not effective.
To keep bandits off, we have to develop a sustainable Livestock Boarding School. This will see livestock reared together at common places. We will have CCTV cameras and security personnel to watch over the livestock. It will be difficult to steal livestock from the LBS.
Modern abattoirs can also be set up instead of transferring livestock to Nairobi and other major towns. Factories can be set up for the by-products such as skin.
Our security forces should also deploy modern technology like the use of drones for surveillance. In the past, we have had a situation where security forces have been ambushed and killed by bandits. Drones will ensure that security personnel are safe while carrying out surveillance.
Some of these areas are fertile and if the residents are equipped with modern agricultural equipment, they can practice subsistence farming. This will increase the country’s food security and make the residents self-sustainable.
Modern mining technology can be deployed in this area. These places are full of precious minerals and should be opened up to prospective companies.
Given that there are vast tracts of land, and the areas are at least 400km away from JKIA, the country’s main airport, it will be ideal to build an airport in these areas. Tourism will flourish and the hospitality industry will grow as a result of hotels and lodges coming up.
If we are able to do all this, we will open up the banditry stricken areas to the rest of the world and the once insecure places will be the safest to live in. The world has changed so much, and it’s time that we leveraged new technology to end banditry.
