Baringo North leaders, residents want night curfew lifted

Leaders in Baringo North sub-county want the government to lift the 30-day dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed a month ago.

They claimed the movement restriction should have been imposed in neighbouring Tiaty sub-county, where criminals wreaking havoc in the North Rift region are suspected to come from.

The state issued the directive a month ago in Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot as it cracked down on armed bandits and sought to seize illegal guns in the hands of civilians.

Rift Valley Regional Commissioner Maalim Mohammed said at the time that killings and stock theft continued despite several peace meetings spearheaded by security teams, elders and clerics.

Led by Baringo North parliamentary hopeful Joseph Makilap, they claimed locals had lost loved ones after being shot dead by the armed bandits, who stole their livestock.

“It is regrettable that the government is imposing a curfew in such areas where locals have suffered for many years due to insecurity,” Mr Makilap.

“The bandits have virtually forced people to stay indoors, and they cannot go on with their daily activities for fear of being attacked and instead of the government beefing up security in such villages, they cause more harm by giving directives that will not achieve their intended purpose.”

He dismissed the strategy as ineffective, saying it exposed innocent civilians to suffering while the culprits wreaking havoc are hiding in bush.

“If the state is sincere in hunting down the culprits behind perennial insecurity in the North Rift region, then they should smoke them out of their hideouts and arrest them instead of subjecting an entire population to suffering,” he said.

“The victims of banditry are now facing a lot of challenges. For instance, to get food in remote villages they are forced to walk for long distances, which they cannot now do because of the curfew.”

He demanded that the state lift the curfew in the constituency and instead find and arrest suspected criminals.

Locals have also complained that the curfew had hampered normal activities in remote villages.

Judah Losutan, an elder in Nginyang’ in Tiaty West sub-county, said locals are pastoralists who take livestock farther afield in search of pasture and water. He said the restriction on movement had led to herders being harassed repeatedly by security officers.

“What will also happen to our school-going children, who have to walk tens of kilometres to school and arrive home before the stipulated time and flout the order?” he said.

“They will definitely be harassed by the security officers as it has been witnessed in the past, while the criminals being pargetted are hiding in the bushes.”

He added: “I think the government should be serious and find other strategies for bringing normality in the disturbed areas. As a matter of fact, previous security operations in the North Rift region had not borne any fruit anyway, and locals continue to smuggle more illegal arms.”

Issuing the curfew order a month ago, Mr Maalim said in Baringo County that the entire Tiaty East and Tiaty West sub-counties would be affected, and parts of Bartabwa ward and Saimo Soi in Baringo North, including Ng’orora, Kinyach, Sibilo and Yatya locations.

In Marakwet East, the entire Tot ward comprising Keben, Endo, Talai, Koibirir, Kiberiem, Sibow, Mogoro and Ketut locations, was also affected.

The curfew was also imposed on Chesongoch, Tirap and Kabiego wards with Murkutwo, Chechan, Chemonyo, Kibaimwa, Mol, Kitimbur, Kipchumwa, Embotut and Kabiego locations.

Also affected is Marakwet West sub-county, which includes Arror ward and Arror and Chesuman locations.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the troubled Kerio Valley since the beginning of the year, with livelihoods lost and thousands of residents displaced from their homes.

Mr Maalim announced that the night curfew in Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot would be extended another 30 days to tame the runaway insecurity that has led to the closure of social amenities including schools and health facilities.

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