Blame rampant insecurity on the residents, leaders

Blame rampant insecurity on the residents, leaders

Content analysis on the Kenyan mainstream media at the start of 2013 reveals rampant insecurity in various parts of the country as one of the most conspicuous themes.  The case of the Tana Delta, obviously, tops the list. Two attacks in the region, taking with them at least 22 lives, add to the previous year’s death toll in the area, culminating to a whooping 200 lives lost.

Occasionally, the media chronicle the over 40 police officers that lost their lives at the hands of bandits in the infamous in Suguta Valley, Baragoi in November last year, as they responded to yet another incident of cattle rustling. These incidents, according to the media, smear the Kibaki regime. From this analysis, one thing is for sure though: there is no consensus on the probable explanation to the spate of rampant insecurity in the country.  However, a close examination of the nature and patterns of incidents does not absolve the area residents and their leaders from blame.

Insecurity in the Tana Delta, like in any other place in the country, is an outcome of the cultural activities of the people. That the Pokomo and the Ormas are warring over natural resources, therefore, cannot be far from the theory explaining the spate of insecurity. Cognizant of the delicacy of the land issue amongst the communities, the leaders, incumbent and aspiring would have sparked the very first attacks, the August attacks. The fact that this is happening around the electioneering period justifies this opining.

This is not the case with cattle rustling.

Cattle rustling amongst the Turkana is a normal cultural activity. Considering the value the residents attach to this activity, it would be unimaginable to have a society where cattle rustling is no more. Before the morans embark on their rustling missions, it is natural that they must prepare for any eventualities. Where, therefore, do the area residents come in?

Residents, and oftentimes, the victims of the insecurity incidents play an important role in propping the spate of insecurity in their regions. Let us start with cattle rustling. Communities that value cattle rustling enjoy the benefits of this ancient tradition. They are oblivious of the harms that result from their engagement in the activity. It would be appropriate here to resist the temptation of blaming this cultural activity, as this cultural relativist approach would not achieve much.

Instead, urging the communities to reexamine the consequences of their activities to the larger society is the right way here. Consequently, they should resist the temptation of shielding their neighbors, brothers, fathers and husbands when they engage in the criminal aspects of their cultural activity.

Tana Delta residents equally do nothing wrong pursuing their various cultural activities. However, they are doing great injustice to the larger society by withholding intelligence to the relevant authorities. It would be impossible for the police to understand the people behind the skirmishes unless the residents are willing to corporate, by availing crucial information. Who wants a police force that results to torture, and water boarding to extract intelligence from suspects? I am sure the Tana Delta residents love their people so much and would not imagine them landing into the torturous mechanism of the police.

Residents always know the people behind criminal activities amongst themselves. In the Tana Delta skirmishes, Aljazeera acknowledges that locals are “accusing politicians of fuelling the attacks.” Through their lifestyles, these people would easily reveal their undercover undertakings. In most cases, like in the case of tribal clashes or cattle rustling, the bandits would easily reveal their involvement, albeit implicitly.

The provincial administration cannot, in anyway claim that they do not know the perpetrators of heinous crimes within their areas of jurisdiction.  A good number of these leaders are intertwined in the cultural dichotomy characterizing their regions that they support the criminal activities. It is not surprising that they seldom play ball in taming these incidents within their localities.

For instance, three weeks ago, today, a notorious witchdoctor resident of Muusini village in Kibwezi stirred the wrath of the villagers when her goons, three anonymous men whose missions were suspect to all and sundry, straggled to death a young man within the compound of the witchdoctor, ostensibly for ritual purposes. This was the second incident within a year in which a villager died at the hands of the witchdoctor.

Spontaneously, the villagers descended on her home, killed two of the three goons, and the son of their boss, who before he succumbed to machete wounds, owned that they had killed some 25 villagers.  They also brought down her house, torched her livestock and chicken, before running amok across the neighboring homesteads, looking for the witchdoctor. Meanwhile, she had escaped with the assistance of her relatives. The local assistant chief is known to have played a key role in her escape.

“We know for sure that he led her away from the paths that the residents would pass in her pursuit”, an angry villager offered, on condition of anonymity. He dismissed the possibility of the area leader acting in the best possible way in the situation. “This is because he supports her activities, from which he gets something to keep quiet.” Let him know that we shall oust him from office for promoting crime in the region,” he added, brandishing a wooden log, the type that he admitted used to kill the goats and chicken of the witchdoctor.

Although the police later arrested the woman, the villagers had suffered immensely. Several youths were arrested when the villagers barricaded the Nairobi-Mombasa highway for hours, baying for the blood of the witchdoctor, and perhaps her accomplices.

The overarching reality in this story is that the local leaders are pivotal in supporting rampant crime. These local leaders are privy to suspicious people living within their localities. For instance, the village elders in the Kibwezi case should have suspected the activities of the three goons hired by the witchdoctor, and invited the police in case they were not satisfied.

This is considering that the elders would have difficulties in disbanding the business of the witchdoctor, considering its cultural relevance in the region. With the reluctance of the local leaders to corporate, this story did not attract the necessary attention of the mainstream media.

Certainly, this level of reluctance of the residents and their leaders is not unique to the people of Kibwezi. Tana Delta residents and their leaders must be knowledgeable on the people that keep invading their residential areas torching houses and killing people en masse.This applies also with the residents of Turkana, and, of course, any other part of the country.

Considering that the society is not about to win in its quest to wade crime away, there is need for sustainable solutions. In this light, the need for inclusivity in solving rampant insecurity cannot be overemphasized. Until that point, the mainstream media would continue chronicling incidents of insecurity in one place or the other.