When bandits plotted to disrupt poll, elders came to the rescue
Bandits planned a raid in Isiolo on the eve of the general election to disrupt the poll and wreak havoc.
They wanted to get away with herds of cattle and loot food and drugs from local stores.
The attackers knew the police were stretched and expected their response to be slow. Officers had been deployed to polling stations and tallying centers to provide security as Kenyans elected their representatives.
Isiolo North Deputy County Commissioner Kepha Marube said the rustlers were from Samburu East and their targets were Gotu, Ngaremara, and Burat areas in Isiolo.
“The raid’s impact would have been devastating because people would not have voted, and a wrong candidate would have won,” he said.
On August 7, 2022, two days before the election, locals spotted the bandits and alerted Community Empowerment Environment Development (CEED) organization. CEED prevents conflicts in Isiolo. Ahead of the election, Act! supported the organization to rally for peace and conduct civic and voter education in the county.
CEED program officer, James Mwenda, said the organization convened a quick meeting on August 8, 2022, involving 66 elders—29 from Isiolo and 37 from Samburu. CEED had engaged some of them in peace activities under the Kenya Electoral Conflicts Mitigation and Civic Education Support (ECCES) program, which Act! leads.
“There were discussions about how we can permanently end livestock rustling. We formed a peace committee to address the impeding raid.”
James Mwenda, CEED program officer.
Seeking permanent solution
In Isiolo, not all attacks are averted or repulsed by police. Village elders are trusted in conflict management and play a significant role in preventing incursions. Sometimes police and the elders work together.
CEED’s meeting with the elders happened at Citam Mission Church in Archer’s Post, around the Isiolo-Samburu border. Government officials from both counties attended.
“There were discussions about how we can permanently end livestock rustling. We formed a peace committee to address the impeding raid,” Mwenda said.
The committee comprised elders from Isiolo and Samuru.
One of the members was Jackson Letolye, a former chief and an elder from Samburu.
“We knew where the rustlers were hiding. We went to talk them out of their plan,” Letoyle said.
To gain the bandits’ trust, Letoyle said, the committee decided not to involve the police.
Another elder from Isiolo, Ali Ismael, said it was easy to convince the bandits to abandon their plan because they knew them.
“We talked about peace and the impact their raid would have,” Ismael said.
“In the end, the plans were thwarted. We proceeded with the election, which was peaceful.”
Kepha Marube, Isiolo Deputy County Commissioner.
Raid stopped
Involving the elders was strategic for CEED, Mwenda said.
“They are usually the first to get the intelligence report about any looming raid. They know the attackers and where they live,” Mwenda said.
On the night the attack was to unfold, the cattle rustlers were seen retreating to their bases after the elders persuaded them not to strike.
“In the end, the plans were thwarted. We proceeded with the election, which was peaceful,” Marube said.
Mwenda said there was a high-voter turn out contrary to what was expected.
“The attack was a decoy so that people from a certain area could not vote,” Mwenda said.
CEED interventions that contributed to a peaceful poll in Isiolo were courtesy of the ECCES program.
The elders’ meetings followed a dozen others CEED conducted from April to September to keep Isiolo peaceful during and after the poll. Twenty-six gatherings before the elections had reached 1,164 people, the majority of them youth.
USAID funded ECCES across Kenya through Act! and Uraia Trust. One of the ECCES’ objectives was to mitigate electoral violence and improve response to any fight.
Between April and September 2022, ECCES’ peace messages impacted 215,222 people directly— and another 15 million indirectly—as 41 peace accords got signed by the warring communities.
By Ernest Cornel.
ALSO, READ AND WATCH
