Though some aspiring politicians may be taking advantage of the avenue to seek political mileage by fueling conflicts, placing the blame squarely at the feet of the politician to hide the commercial viability the lucrative business in the northern part of the country.
This was a statement from the Ngaremara ward Member of County Assembly Peter Losu after listening to elders of two neighbouring communities who have hit the limelight after the Isiolo –Marsabit road was blocked by children belonging to one community who were protesting the killing of one of their own.
He linked the Turkana and Samburu animosity to disagreements over sharing of stolen livestock.
The international road that links Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo in Egypt was made impassable, a major security scare that can bring affect tourism in the country adversely.
Parks and conservancy managements saw the economic implications of the dangerous action but does this really bother the illiterate pastoralist who value cattle raiding more than education?
The two warring communities still hold their livestock dear and are oblivious of the Lapsset project that will soon transform Isiolo from a small town into an urban metropolis owing to its central position in the mega project that will link Lamu to South Sudan and Ethiopia.
Isiolo County Commissioner George Natembeya had an uphill task trying to sink sense into some Turkana’s living in Ngaremara about the dim future those of them rushing to sell land are going to face.
Addressing a baraza last week the newly posted County Commissioner said that the Turkana will only have themselves to blame if they do not strategize to reap from the benefits expected to accompany the Lapsset project.
“Isiolo is the centre of the Lapsset project and land prices will soon escalate. It will be very unfortunate for you to watch from a distance as immigrants construct skyscrapers on land that was previously your own,” said the senior administrator.
Natembeya gave the example of Nairobi where the original owners of land in the city were Maasai yet hardly any Maasai owns a building within the town after they sold out their land to immigrants who have since constructed bungalows and apartments earning them millions of shillings annually.
“The Maasai who owned Nairobi have now been pushed to as far as Kitengela and Kiserian and watch with envy as people from other parts of the country and beyond continue constructing skyscrapers on land that was originally theirs,” said the administrator.
The County Commissioner further disclosed that once bungalows and sky scrapers are constructed within the area there will no longer be land for livestock keeping and those stuck to some cultural practices like cattle rustling will be overtaken by events.
There has been constant blame game with the Turkana crying foul even to the extent of describing their Samburu neighbours as intolerant bullies who are forcing them to adopt their cultural practices.
“We have adopted their culture of circumcising our boys but imagining that we should subject our girls to FGM when the government is against it is ill informed.
We will certainly not subject our girls to circumcision,” said Peter Lekorop, a Turkana elder from Loruko.
Lekorop called on the national government to rename Samburu and Turkana counties into non ethnic names arguing that the tribal notions make the ethnic communities under whose name the county is known to be conceited against other communities living within.
“Why not rename Turkana county into Lodwar county and Samburu into Mararal and bring to an end this feeling that they are tribal counties where all communities do not have equal rights,” posed the Turkana elder.
The animosity between the Turkana and Samburu has been viewed with mixed feelings with some NGOs seeing it as a conflict over water and pasture but the government has maintained that it is all about youth with misplaced priorities.
In July this year the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) an NGO that has through experience come to understand the underlying causes of conflicts between pastoral communities called on the Maasai community living in some section of the county to desist from tribal conflicts and embrace education to enhance development of their area.
NRT Chief Executive Officer Dr. Mike Harrison said his organization would work closely with the county and national governments to deter any ethnic animosity among the communities living in Isiolo and the neighbouring counties even as the conflicts over water and pasture threatened to drive them apart.
“The major cause of tribal animosity between the pastoralist communities of Samburu, Turkana, Maasai and Borana is due to competition for water and pasture.
We are therefore working with the national and county governments to avert any conflicts through organizing peace forums with the elders and morans of these communities,” Dr. Harisson had said.
But yesterday the NGOs coordinator expressed different feelings. Speaking in a joint security and peace meeting for Isiolo and Samburu counties held at the KWS complex in Ngaremara division Isiolo County yesterday, NRT Co-ordinator Tom Lalampa raised concern over rising cases of commercialization of cattle rustling.
Lalampa termed commercialization of cattle rustling as an impediment to reconciliation of the communities concerned since recovery of stolen livestock is made difficult by proceeds of the loot.
“Some cattle rustlers were arrested in an undisclosed market selling their loot but were later released under unknown circumstances, a trend that may limit the peace and reconciliation that this meeting was meant to kick start,” said Lalampa.
On their part Natembeya and his Samburu counterpart Mohamed Birik have maintained that the root cause of the animosity is illegal arms and ordered youths using firearms for cattle rustling and killing of innocent people to cease with immediate effect.
Speaking in the same meeting yesterday the two commissioners condemned the misuse of firearms by youths and ordered them to stop immediately or face the full force of the law.
“It is the government’s duty to protect all citizens and their property those who continue killing innocent people and stealing their livestock will be pursued with the full security machinery until this vice is brought to an end,” said Natembeya.
Birik said there have been several accords to seek for a lasting solution and him and his counterpart will ensure that they are fully implemented to end the animosity between the various ethnic communities living in the two neighbouring counties.
“History will judge us harshly if this meeting turns out to be only a public relations exercise and I call on the elders in this meeting to tell the youth that we are now fed up with cattle rustling and killing of innocent people,” said the Samburu county commissioner.
This question continue to linger whether the animosity is ending soon with the revelation by the MCA that the current ethnic animosity is nothing more than deals gone sour.
Losu said the Turkana and Samburu are fighting over deals gone sour after failing to come up with an amicable agreement on how to share livestock stolen from their Meru neighbours.
“When the Turkana who have stolen livestock from the Meru feel they are cornered by security officers, they hide them among the Samburu and vise versa and issues arise later when handing over the livestock to their original raiders become an issue,” said the MCA.