Banditry and cattle rustling in Baringo again have claimed the lives of innocents whose only ‘crime’ is belonging to a particular community.
The five killed last Thursday in the volatile Arabel area of Baringo South were a National Police Reservist and four children. A quick tally puts last year’s Baringo death toll at 20, a conservative figure. (See page 9)
If such killings were to happen in the President’s Ishaweri home area or his deputy’s Surgoi village, be certain the entire security machinery would camp there to finish the problem.
It is not that security presence is a panacea to the attacks among the Tugens, Ilchamus and Pokots; but the cycle of reprisals is appalling.
If we can afford to keep troops in Somalia for eight years with little to show for it, should we wait until Baringo becomes a massacre before acting decisively?
Token moves like arming NPR and charging leaders for incitement are cosmetic.
There must be determined and well-funded efforts to lift warring communities from poverty through education, provision of water, modern farming, business and improved infrastructure.
This is the only way they will see the need to abandon age-old cultures like cattle rustling that threaten devolution and civilisation.