DISSECTING KAINUK INSECURITY; Those of us who have been to, and past Lodwar by road has horrific stories to tell. This is where you actually doubt if Turkana is part of Kenya. Starting from Kitale(ofcourse you MUST get some Police Escort from here - who are also not safe anyway), you pass Kapenguria towards Marich(where you go past the junction that branches to the Baragoi in West Pokot), you drive straight to the famous Kainuk. Kainuk is a small village town that also serves as a border point between Pokot and the Turkana Counties. Many travellers spend their nights here since the journey is indeed epic - you need at least 3days to get to Lodwar from Kitale. The next sleep-over will be at Lokichar. This is the place where Kenya discovered huge deposits of Oils recently. Then you may proceed to Lodwar the next day, and to Lakitaung- Sudan the following day. And the question is; why would you travel a short distance of less than 500kilometres in 4 days. Imagine travelling from Nairobi to Mombasa for 4days!! We must agree that everything is wrong here. These people have never seen a tarmac road. SOLUTIONS; 1. ROADS; That is the starting point. The only small path that they use, sandwiched between very scaring homogeneous thicket is dominated by lakes and deltas - potholes are an understatement. That makes travellers so prone to attacks and numerous hijackings. 2. There is no water here but only some seasonal springs that dries with the vagaries of the climate. This is another serious problem that the Jubilee Government need to address if these poor residents of Turkana, Pokot regions, and even Baringo north will ever live harmoniously. Their fights are mostly exacerbated by scarcity of water resources for their animals. 3. Land and boundaries are a hot issue for these people who are perennial nomadic pastoralists. Yes, the new Constitution classifies their lands as community lands, but, shockingly, none has a title-deed nor a clearly-demarcated boundary. This triggers the genesis of yet another fight. The lack of boundaries fiercely instigates the scramble for the oil-rich belt hence the recent animosity between communities here. 5. Due to all the factors I enumerated here above, and the upsurge of the population, the youth have no work to do. They have ZERO social-economic activity to engage in, hence yet another problem. It is even worse since they know no school - 80% are illiterate. But they can be engaged by the government in the construction of their roads among other menial activities like modern livestock management. Sending contingents of police officers in Kainuk may just be a knee-jerk remedy but it will not solve matters in long-term.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 07:31:43 +0000
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