Children initiated into Banditry in North Eastern

North Eastern Kenya has been known for  frequent wars and loss of lives for years. This has thus led to many citizens preffering to stay out of the area in terms of visiting and investing hence has led the area tio remain under developed compared to other regions in the country.

All the sectors in the regions have suffered as a result of frequent attacks and wars between various waring communities. The education sector which is so crucial for any country has been hit the hardest since boys as young as 12 are being recruited as fighters in the volatile areas of northern Kenya prone to banditry, cattle rustling and ethnic conflicts. The turning of young boys into armed killers has alarmed the county administrations.

The revelations came against the backdrop of claims that teaching has been paralysed in 25 primary schools due to insecurity. According to the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), 37,000 school children have been affected.

A Kenya Police reservist, Mr Symon Kiburet, said he and colleagues on security patrols had been ambushed several times by bandits as young as 14, who appeared well-trained and conversant with firearms.

“Ready markets are contributing to rampant cattle rustling because whenever they strike they go and sell the animals immediately so as not to be arrested,” he said.

Baringo County Commissioner Peter Okwanyo confirmed that youngsters between ages 12 and 17 were in possession of illegal firearms and have been carrying out violent raids in the region, mostly in Tiaty Sub-County.

“Adult raiders are more tactical but juveniles shoot anyhow (sic) because most of them want to satisfy their curiosity, thus leading to senseless killings,” said Mr Okwanyo.

The Nation team that visited some of the bandit areas on Saturday saw boys as young as eight walking around with rifles resting on their shoulders. “Cases of bandits killing people senselessly without taking anything are rampant in this county because the ones doing such are young children,” said Mr Okwanyo.

Many of the boys drop out of school in Standard Five, after which they marry. Because there is no other source of income to pay more than 200 cows for the bride price, they resort to raiding neighbouring communities, he said.

“We have already devised a strategy of mitigating against such retrogressive cultures through empowering youths by recruiting them to the National Youth Service so that they can acquire skills and discard such crimes,” said Mr Okwanyo.

His counterpart, Baringo South Sub-County Commissioner Felix Kisalu, urged parents to keep an eye on their children to avoid them being used by criminal elements.

According to Mr Kisalu, politicians have been recruiting youngsters to take part in cattle raids.

“It is disappointing because the young bandits end up being rewarded with petty cash by the masterminds or they sell the stolen livestock at a throw-away price,” he said.

“That is gross violation of children’s rights,” he said, and pledged to bring to book those who use youngsters to cause violence. “Retrogressive culture should not be used to infringe the rights of our children,” he said.

Mr Kisalu also asked parents to invest in their children’s education as one way of ending the perennial problem of banditry, which has also led to many children dropping out of school.

According the Baringo Knut branch secretary, Mr Charles Kamuren, no meaningful learning went on in the schools in the first two months of the second term due to insecurity. Some of the schools will require reconstruction after the bandits vandalised them and stole some equipment and materials, including iron sheets and solar panels.

Herders in parts of Baringo County said the security personnel stationed in the area could not contain the large number of raiders who also have sophisticated weapons.

A parent from the volatile Chemoe area in Baringo North Sub-County, Mr Richard Chepchomei, raised concern over school children in Tiaty Sub-county opting for the gun rather than the pen.

“Banditry has gone a notch higher in this area because it seems these children are being used by masterminds as a way of scaring away residents so that they get chance of expanding territories. It is unfortunate because innocent lives are lost,” said Mr Chepchomei.

He urged the government to apprehend the masterminds and the political elite suspected to be taking advantage of the illiterate youngsters.He also accused security officers of being lenient with bandits. Suspected armed raiders are often arrested but soon after, are seen roaming the villages, committing the same crimes, he claimed.

“Some of them are known and their names have since been submitted to the county administration yet none of them has been arrested, let alone being summoned,” said Mr Chepchomei.

Reference : www.nation.co.ke