A borehole drilled near the boundary of Laikipia and Isiolo counties 10 years ago turned out to be the cause of deadly conflicts between two pastoral communities.
The Tura Community Borehole Project was initiated by the Laikipia County government in 2013, but it was not until 2019 that communities residing within Naibung’a Community Conservancy started utilising this investment after it was equipped by a Swedish development agency.
But herders from across the border in Isiolo County were not willing to watch their neighbours benefit alone, and took advantage of the proximity of the revamped borehole to trespass into communal lands to water their livestock while grazing on rangelands reserved by locals for during dry seasons.
While the borehole project was a positive development for the residents of the semi-arid Laikipia North Constituency, it turned out to be the beginning of long-running conflicts that resulted in the loss of human lives and the destruction of properties.
“For two years from 2020, areas of Kimanjo, Tiamamut, Kijabe, Koija and Il Motiok were inhabitable due to conflicts arising from invasion by our neighbours from Ol Donyiro Ward in Isiolo in search of water and pasture. Many people lost their lives with homesteads being torched on both sides at the height of the conflicts,” recalls Mr Hudson Meshami, chairman of Naibung’a Lower Conservancy.
At the height of the conflicts, some schools and markets remained closed, with people migrating to peaceful areas, as the road linking Ol Donyiro and Kimanjo was rendered impassable due to insecurity.
The killing of Il Motiok Senior Chief Jacob Yiangere in 2022 by armed bandits was attributed to the simmering conflicts with the administrator seen as a stumbling block for the migrating herders in their quest to water their livestock at the Tura borehole.
Following the killing of the 59-year-old chief, area MP Sarah Korere told Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, during a visit to condole with the bereaved family, that 19 people had lost their lives in the area within three years.
“In the last three years, we have lost 19 people in this area to banditry attacks. Every time the bandits attacked, people would move further away from the common boundary but the chief remained adamant giving hope to the local community that an amicable solution to this problem would be reached for the two rival communities to live in harmony,” said Ms Korere.
While the boundary dispute was initially said to be the cause of the escalating tension, a task force composed of national and county government representatives and other stakeholders flagged competition and access to water as the main trigger for the conflicts.
The report by the task force paved the way for a joint committee, bringing together elders, women and morans (young warriors) from both sides.
“Following deliberations by the joint committee, it was agreed that the water be shared equally between the villages in Isiolo and Laikipia counties. Since the initiative, the Tura and Tiamamut communities of Laikipia and their counterparts in Parkuruka nd Narasha villages have found a ground for peaceful existence,” says Eng Odupoi Kuraru from the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT, the initiator of this conflict resolution process.
Eng. Kuraru, who designed the three-kilometre water piping to Narasha, says about 1,000 people, livestock and wildlife in the community conservancies now stand to benefit. He reveals that the multi-million shillings borehole project has brought together three partners namely World Vision, Nawiri and NRT.
“Piping water to the villages from the borehole has brought about peace that has been elusive for years. It underscores the significance of water management in conflict resolution and serves as an example of how strategic interventions can transform water-related conflicts into opportunities to foster harmony,” notes Eng. Kuraru.
Ms Mary Moisan, a resident of Tiamamut, recalls how the conflicts affected development and how learners dropped out of school when their parents migrated to safer areas.
“Before the conflicts, women in Narasha village in Isiolo and those from Tiamamut in Laikipia had put up eco-tourism manyattas and we could send tourists to them and vice versa. But these eco lodges were razed down during the conflicts and we are now picking the pieces to start the projects once again,” says Ms Moisan.
Residents from the two neighbouring villages in different counties are happy with the restored harmonious coexistence but regret the loss of lives and property due to the failure to diagnose the cause of conflict on time.
