At the age of six, Musa Makal, now 23, from the remote village of Silale in Tiaty East, Baringo County, was supposed to go to school like other children across the country, but instead he was sent to herd his father's livestock further afield with his peers from the area.
During this time, he saw other boys, slightly older than himself, carrying guns in the pastures and envied them.
One day, he says, he was away from home for more than two days herding cattle, and he vowed that next time he would not go without a rifle, so that he could learn to use it like his peers.
According to the now-reformed warrior, his older brothers also had their own guns and he hatched a plan to take one for his escapades while doing his daily chores -- herding.
“One day, I managed to steal one of my brother’s guns and I took it with me. When herding, my fellow boys taught me how to use it and in a few days I knew how to use it. I was so elated because we were now at par and they could not ridicule me as they used to,” said Mr Makal.
Musa Makal, 23, a reformed warrior from the far-flung Silale village in Tiaty East during an interview on July 15, 2024.
Photo credit: Florah Koech | Nation Media Group
“I remember when I returned home after a few days, my father beat me up for stealing the gun, saying that I was still too young for it. But that did not deter me from taking it. I stole it again.”
By the age of 12, he said, he was able to skilfully handle a gun.
Together with other herders-turned-raiders, they planned attacks in neighbouring West Pokot, Samburu, before moving on to Turkana and other counties.
"In my first raid, I managed to get two cows, and this slowly increased to dozens of cows and goats in subsequent raids. This motivated me to carry out more raids and that is how I became a notorious criminal," said Mr Makal.
A few years later, he told the Nation , he felt the urge to learn Kiswahili and enrolled in school, an idea his father agreed with.
He was enrolled at Riong’o Primary School. But when he was in Standard Four, a dry spell forced him and his father to take their livestock to neighbouring Turkana County in search of water and pasture.
The adverse effects of the drought took a toll on the emaciated cows, forcing Makal’s father to sell them at a throwaway price rather than see them starve.
"I got very angry when I found out that my father had sold my cattle without my knowledge, forcing me to drop out of school and become a bandit again to get more. I took my brother's gun again and went on more raids," he said.
As a result of the long dry spell, he and other locals moved their livestock to Nosidan village in Baringo South in search of pasture. But due to frequent raids, he lost more than 20 of his cattle – also the proceeds of banditry – to raiders.
During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, a friend advised him to get a national identification card (ID) to access government services, including food aid, which was normally distributed in the arid area. He got his ID, but continued with the raids.
Early last year, after returning home from his raids, he heard that there was a peace meeting in the area organised by Interpeace, an international peace-building organisation, to preach peaceful co-existence between neighbouring communities in the troubled area.
He and his fellow bandits decided to attend the meeting, which was also attended by government officials, including chiefs.
According to the reformed bandit, they had never attended a peace meeting before and were very curious about what it entailed.
“We got wind that the said meeting had been convened by the government. According to us, the ‘government’ was the police and we had bad blood with them. Nevertheless, we decided to attend the peace meeting,” he said.
During the meeting, Interpeace officials called on him and his friend and were surprised that the duo spoke a little Kiswahili, which their peers in the remote village didn't.
The officials, he says, persuaded them to put down their guns and join a tertiary institution to learn skills instead of relying on cattle rustling to survive.
“We were in a dilemma because we had planned a raid in the neighbouring Turkana County the following day, and some of our ‘recce’ team were already in the said area. However, our plans for the raid were curtailed after the peacebuilding team convinced me and my friend to go to school,” said Mr Makal.
The fifth born in a family of eight, he said the team was "God-sent" because most of the bandits who went on the planned raid in Turkana lost their lives.
"At the time, we had travelled with officials from the organisation where we slept in Marigat town to be enrolled at Mogotio Training Institute the next day. It was my first day in a vehicle, let alone sleeping on a mattress and eating different kinds of food. It was the best feeling ever," he remarked.
"We were also dressed in shukas, a traditional regalia for morans in the arid area. We bought new clothes and were admitted to the college where I study electronics."
Going back to school, he said, changed his life for the better because the way people lived and did business was different from their remote village, where children never went to school and the only activity was herding cattle.
“I even got to know that people can engage in an alternative livelihood like farming other than livestock keeping...I went and initiated the project back in the village when the school close. I have a model farm at home. My peers were also encouraged by how my life had completely changed, ranging from my dress code to how I conducted myself. I even ended up becoming a role model to them and some have ditched the gun for books,” said Mr Makal.
“When I go home, my peers, especially those we used to raid, want to spend time with me, go through my smartphone and even want some of my clothes and shoes to wear. They want to hear stories of how Marigat town and the ‘other side of the world’ looks like,” he added.
“When I joined the technical institution, I realised that banditry is vanity and it will not earn one anything. In the past, I stole several livestock, but I cannot account for any at the moment…others were stolen while others died of dry spell. I vowed never to go back to banditry. My message to children in my locality is to go to school... This will help root out the stock theft and killings,” said Mr Makal, who graduate at the end of this year.
Thousands of children in the remote villages of Tiaty face many challenges to getting an education, forcing most of them to drop out of school. Many become cattle herders, some of whom are later recruited into banditry.
The Nation has learnt that most of the armed cattle rustlers do not go to school and a majority of them are groomed for 'work' at a very tender age.
For example, illiterate herd boys are trained to defend themselves at a young age. They are separated from their mothers at the age of seven and taken to cattle camps where they are exposed to hardship and learn to survive.
Yuda Losutan, an elder from Nginyang' in Tiaty West, said the lack of schools, few teachers and high levels of illiteracy among parents had forced thousands of children to drop out of school, with girls getting married off and young boys turning to herding, which in most cases leads to banditry.
“With no basic education and religion, what do you think young boys engage in while in the bushes herding? With their nomadic nature, most of the times especially during dry spells, they are forced to move from one place to another in search of water and pasture for their livestock. Sometimes some go as far as the neighbouring country,” said Mr Losutan.
Julius Akeno, an elder and author from the region, says in his book, Patrons of the wild Suguta Valley , that bandits learn their skills from herding and boys as young as eight are given the responsibility of moving cattle for long periods of time.
“Young boys in the Pokot community are separated from their mothers as early as eight years and given the responsibility of looking after livestock .They normally go far away from their homes during dry seasons,” said Mr Akeno.
“During such periods, it is mandatory for herders who take the livestock to be armed to protect the cows from being stolen by other neighbouring communities.”
They only come to take what they need from the parents who are left with the goats and camels. It is in these grazing areas that the bandits become the decision-makers, and because they have the guns, they organise raids without the knowledge of the parents. Most parents find out about their children's actions when they are either killed or the animals are traced back to the parents' herd in the grazing area.
