Learning paralysed in schools as insecurity escalates in Baringo South

County police boss Robinson Ndiwa has appealed to residents of in insecurity prone Baringo South to allow their children to resume classes, assuring them that schools are safe.

He said additional police had been deployed and buffer zones created between the warring communities. Three weeks after schools the third term started, seven schools are yet to reopen.

The schools that are still closed due to insecurity are Mukutani, Sosion, Matunda, Ruggus , and Kapindasum primary schools and Mukutani and Embosos secondary schools in Baringo South and Tiaty sub-counties.

Reports indicate that teachers, a majority of whom are non-locals, are yet to report to their respective work stations for fear of being attacked by bandits who are believed to be hiding in the villages.

The situation was worsened after a 71-year-old man and his 10-year-old grandson were shot dead a week ago in Kiserian by bandits while herding livestock on Bartalo Hill.

During the attack, the minor, a Grade Four pupil at Kiserian Primary School, was shot on the head and died on the spot while the old man, Mr Lokuyalem Lemilita, was shot on the back and died while being rushed to hospital for treatment.

Tensions are still high in the area and locals say they are unable to go about their normal activities for fear that the bandits may struck again.

Mr Ndiwa said more security officers have been deployed in the areas and some are also camping within the affected schools.

Affected schools

“I am appealing to locals to kindly take their children to school because we have deployed enough security officers in the porous areas. Some of them are living in those affected schools to ensure learners and teachers are safe,” said Mr Ndiwa.

He announced the establishment of a General Service Unit camp at Kapindasim, Arabal, Mukutani and Noosukro rprimary schools.

“We have doing our best to recover all the livestock stole in the region and smoke out the bandits from their hideouts ,” Mr Ndiwa said.

He ordered illegal herders who had invaded the pasture-rich Arabal area in Baringo South Sub-county to vacate immediately.

Hundreds of herders from the neighbouring Tiaty Sub-county have moved in to the area causing tensions among the warring Tugen and Pokot communities.

He accused the herders of using pasture and water as a scapegoat to expand their territories and force other communities out of their land.

More than 10 attacks have been reported in the volatile Kiserian, Chemorong’ion, Arabal and Mukutani villages in the past one month with four people killed, including a military officer, and hundreds of livestock stoled.

Despite the efforts by a multi-agency team to restore order in the troubled regions, banditry attacks continue to be reported in Mukutani, Kiserian, Kasiela, Chemorong’ion and Arabal villages in Baringo South with locals forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in security camps.

Perennial insecurity

Parents in the affected areas have continued to raise concerns regarding the security of their children.

Mr Paul Kipyemat, a resident from Arabal, pointed out that even security officers deployed to restore order were being attacked.

“If this is the situation, how safe are our children?” Mr Kipyemat posed.

Mr Richard Chepchomei, an elder from Chemoe in Baringo North, noted that most of the villages adjacent to the affected schools were deserted and it was risky for the learners to walk for more than five kilometres to access the schools.

Mr George Lechuta from Mukutani complained that they have been forced to flee their homes and put up in police camps.

“We cannot move more than 500 meters from the camps without police escort and have been forced to depend on well-wishers for our survival,” he lamented.

According to locals, the perennial insecurity menace has impacted negatively on school enrolment over the years with dropout rates spiralling.

Kenya National Union of Teachers Baringo executive secretary Joshua Cheptarus has threatened to withdraw teachers in banditry prone areas if the government will not guarantee them of their security.

Illegal firearms

“The lives of our children and teachers are paramount. The government should beef up security in the banditry prone areas and guarantee our teachers and learners of their security because we have lost lives in the past and we cannot take risks. It is better that the institutions be closed until normalcy returns,” said Mr Cheptarus.

Mr Amos Olempaka, the Minority and Marginalized Community Affairs head of department insisted that local leaders and the clergy should come on board and provide solutions to the menace if peaceful co-existence was anything to go by.

He also insisted that the government should change tack on seizure of illegal guns and arrest of armed criminals.

“We have lost hundreds of lives to banditry in Baringo South over the years, including women and young children. Many villages have been left deserted. How many people should we bury for this thing to stop?” 

The latest incident brings to four the number of people killed in Baringo South in two months.

Recently, Baringo South MP Charles Kamuren claimed that hundreds of armed criminals who fled the ongoing security operation in neighbouring Tiaty East and Tiaty West sub-counties were hiding in Mukutani, Arabal and Kasiela villages in his constituency.

“The government should flush out the armed criminals wreaking havoc in this region once and for all. Why should they terrorise people amid a security operation to disarm them? If civilians are still in possession of illegal guns, then we have a long way to go,” said Mr Kamuren.

Residents have accused the government of being lenient on armed criminals.

“We fail to understand why civilians in possession of illegal firearms are being left to roam villages freely despite an ongoing operation to flush them out. We have been forced to be alert even at night just in case the criminals attack. It is sad state of affairs,” lamented Betty Lakangaran, a resident.