Are we children of a lesser god? Why should we live like refugees in our own country? Will we ever know peace?” Ms Joyce Wanjiru, a mother of nine, asks in quick succession, turning away to gaze at the distant ridges that is the vast Laikipia Nature Conservancy.
Since September last year when she fled her farm at Miharati village in Ol Moran ward following bandit attacks, she has lived in rented rooms at Ol Moran Township.
“I’ve been paying Sh900 for each of the three rooms every month, and life is unbearable. It’s a struggle getting casual jobs that can barely pay rent, food and school fees. Yet I had a house and a farm that I no longer feel safe to live in,” says Ms Wanjiru, who is among those displaced from their farms by bandit attacks.
Dozens displaced by perennial clashes pitting farmers against pastoralists have rented houses in the township, where they feel a sense of security from the armed herders, who have in the past killed, maimed, stolen livestock and torched houses.
The cause of these conflicts occurring on the boundary of Laikipia and Baringo counties is unclear but one of the theories is that the herders are keen on pushing back the farming community that has settled on the land subdivided into three or five-acre units to create more grazing areas for their livestock.
Most of the affected villages border the privately-owned 100,000-acre Laikipia Nature Conservancy that provides a hideout for the bandits who always retreat back to the thickets after an attack on the villages.
At the height of the month-long raids late last year, at least 15 people were shot dead by the raiders and 400 families displaced.
More than 70 houses were burnt with 55 of those being at Kisii Ndogo village, about four kilometres from the township.
The affected villages that border the vast conservancy include Miharati, Naagum, Wangwachi, Merigwet, Githima and Survey in Ol Moran ward and Kamwenje and Matuiku in the neighbouring Githiga ward.
“Just the other day an old man was killed at dam Malan. They stole goats and shot him outside his house,” Ms Wanjiru recounts, adding that she is more fearful of returning to the farm.
“I am still too scared to go back to my farm at Miharati village. Memories of that night in September last year when the attackers burnt down my three-room house are so traumatising and I better live here for the safety of my family,” says Ms Irene Nyaboke, a nursery school teacher, who has rented two rooms for her unemployed husband and four children.
Ms Nyaboke says she has rent arrears for five months and is struggling to repay a Sh200,000 bank loan she borrowed to invest in maize farming that collapsed after her mature crop was harvested by unknown people at the height of the skirmishes late last year.
“Soon after our house was burnt, we abandoned the farm and it was during our absence that people I suspect to be the same attackers descended on my 14-acre maize plantation and harvested all the mature crop, leaving me with a huge financial burden. I only managed to get two bags of maize while I had projected to harvest at least 350 bags, which I anticipated to sell at Sh2,500 per bag.” .
The teacher says she has not planted this season since “fear and uncertainty lurks in the shadows of uneasy calm”.
A spot check by the Nation team revealed several abandoned homesteads and some torched. Some of the farms have maize and beans but others have been left bare. Those determined to farm tend to their crops during the day and return to the township before dusk.
“I planted maize on two acres but I’m not sure whether I’ll harvest anything this season. One acre has already been destroyed by cattle that were intentionally driven by the armed herders while a section was invaded by African Army worm,” says Mr John Njuguna.
Mr Njuguna points at his abandoned farm at Merigwet village, saying that for four months now, he has been accommodated by a friend residing next to Ol Moran Township as he was unable to pay for a house he had rented for his family.
“When the clashes erupted, we sought refuge at Ol Moran Deliverance Church with 30 other families. It’s during the time that my one-acre farm of mature maize was stolen where I anticipated harvesting 25 bags,” he recalls.
Another victim, Ms Nancy Wangechi, says they bought a plot at Ol Moran Township where she now lives with her husband and two children. “Our house with property worth Sh300,000 was burnt down. To void such eventualities in future, we decided to settle in town where we feel safe. Most of the attacks have occurred when the country is heading to a general election,” says Ms Wangechi who is pregnant with their third child.
The land here is fertile and the greenery is a pointer to its potential—a sharp contrast to the scorched earth on the way here from Nanyuki.
From Nanyuki Town, it’s an 80km game drive towards Rumuruti through dusty, rocky and vast drylands that border the Ol Pejeta conservancy to the left.
Elephants, zebras, giraffes, camels and antelopes are a common feature as you drive through these vast plains with acacia trees.
The all-weather road descends down a cliff to a bridge over River Ewaso Nyiro that has dried up at this section due to the scorching sun that has extended the drought in this part.
Pastoralists are on the move with herds of cows and goats. A herd of elephants emerges from Mutara ADC farm to cross the road. In the horizon to the right, the Aberdares ranges are visible.
But from Rumuruti, another 45km to Ol Moran, the scenery changes as green maize plantations dot the area.
In Ol Moran, all indications are that peace has been restored in this volatile region that has witnessed conflicts and insecurity over the years. Children jump rope outside a shop, a cart pusher is supplying water to hotels and a few metres away is a police vehicle on patrol.
But beneath this veneer of tranquillity are tales of suffering, some dating back three decades while others are still fresh, the scars of sporadic banditry attacks.
Following the sustained attacks by the bandits in September last year, top security officials literally camped in the area.
At one time, then Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya appeared to admit that the criminals had superior weapons and security officers were having a difficult time trying to restore calm following the shooting dead of three police officers on patrol.
In mid-September, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i visited Ol Moran and announced a raft of measures geared towards restoring peace in the troubled region. He supervised rebuilding of houses at Kisii Ndogo village where his ministry donated building materials.
During the visit last week, residents pointed to the site that had been excavated but no further development has taken place for months now.
Ten months after Dr Matiang’i’s visit, an uneasy calm persists. It’s not clear if all measures aimed at restoring permanent peace were fully executed, with Kirima Deputy County Commissioner John Orata declining to divulge information.
“I prefer that whenever a media team visits Ol Moran area for a fact-finding mission, they pass through my office so that I can personally guide them to see what the national government is doing towards restoring peace,” he told the Nation on phone.
Mr Mengish Kapachikwa, a representative of the youth in the Ol Moran Peace Committee, says the local Pokot community has coexisted with other communities for years.
“We experience conflicts when migrating herders from Baringo and Samburu counties drive their livestock to Kirima Sub-county in search of pasture. These are the ones who cause conflicts but sometimes it is hard to differentiate the visitors from the locals and we all end up carrying the blame,” says Mr Kapachikwa.
He said outsiders should be prevented from migrating with their animals towards Ol Moran for permanent peace to prevail.
For now, the guns may have gone silent, but it will require more action than air surveillance, ground patrol, building of police stations and opening up of road networks to convince the affected population that permanent peace has been restored.
