From guns to pens: Bandits abandon cattle rustling for vocational studies

Caleb Lomada, a student at Mogotio Vocational Training Centre pursuing a plumbing course. Lomada was an ex-bandit who raided communities around his Silale home for livestock. [Jacob Ng'etich, Standard]

As he whiles away the time at the Mogotio Vocational Training College premises on Monday evening after classes, 21-year-old Caleb Lomada is grateful to God for the milestones he has achieved in his life. 

Lomada, a former bandit, and a resident of Silale in Tiaty constituency in Baringo County, notes that had he been left to his own devices, he would be part of the statistics of the young Pokots who have been killed in cattle raids. 

“The last day I would have gone for a raid with my 11 other friends would probably be my last day. We lost seven of them after they were rounded up near Lokori town when returning after a successful raid around Turkana South,” he said. 

That day, Lomada says it was by divine intervention that he had attended a peace meeting in his Silale village. Some visitors to the peace meeting offered an opportunity to facilitate a few young men joining a training institution. 

“My friend Musa Makal, 23, and I weighed the prospects and agreed to take up the challenge. So when friends came that evening to confirm the time of departure for the raid, we dodged by explaining to them that my father was not around and had kept his gun that I would have used,” he said. 

“They left after we delayed showing up where we had agreed was the meeting point that evening,” said Lomada. 

The fourth born among one girl and five boys says that he started stealing livestock from their neighbouring communities of Turkanas, Tugens, Njemps, and Samburus when he was 14 years old. 

“My father told me that given an opportunity, I should raid the Turkana community often, because he claimed they had stolen the family’s livestock three times,” said Lomada. 

He remembers one time when they staged a successful raid around Katilu in Turkana South and got away with hundreds of goats but had to fight for four days near the border of Turkana and Baringo counties.

On their way back home, his two colleagues died from thirst. 

He explained that with a gun in one’s hands, there was unimaginable courage that was sometimes suicidal. 

“You can even get the courage to go for a raid alone with the false confidence that a gun with enough ammunition can save you from any danger,” said Lomada. 

He said he is lucky that he never killed anyone during his raids as opposed to his friends who relished it. 

“I once tried to pull a trigger at one of the enemy communities, but my hands froze and my fingers refused to pull the trigger; I was sweating so I gave up,” he said. 

Together with Makal, their lives have taken a completely different turn. Both are in college now, and while Lomada is in his second year at Mogotio pursuing a plumbing course, Makal is pursuing a certificate in electrical. 

Makal says he remembers a trail of friends who have lost their lives before his eyes, and he is determined to succeed in his new life. 

“I remember my friend Lonyangareng who was shot while next to me in one of the raids in Turkana. I dragged him for about 100 metres hoping that he would survive but he succumbed. I felt dejected, there was nothing I could do, I had to save my life, so I left him there and struggled back,” he said. 

He added; “When my friend died, I was furious and contemplated going back to at least kill one of the opponents or be killed, however, sense prevailed and I left him there and proceeded with my journey.” 

He explained that raids were normally planned by about five to seven people who would meet with elders to seek their blessings, then smeared themselves with white mud before they started embarking on their most deadly encounters. 

Now that he has transformed, he told his father and siblings to shun banditry, noting that the vice was inspired by greed for a large flock. 

After shunning cattle rustling, Makal says his eyes are set on better things in life and that he has left his home. 

“Today, I have visited big towns like Marigat and Kabarnet. I hope one day I will visit Nakuru and eventually Nairobi which I am told are huge towns. In the next five years I will be far, maybe even working in Nairobi like I hear people say,” said Makal. 

Hassan Ismael, the Country Director of Interpeace said the number of people engaging in cattle rustling had gone down significantly and the entire Kerio Valley region is enjoying relative peace. 

Interpeace is an international organisation that prevents violence and builds peace among communities.

Ismael said it is easy for youths to stop banditry. Still, the government needs to incentivise them through easy access to education and rural development so that those who have changed find alternative ways with their lives. 

“If you convince young people to leave cattle rustling, then at least don’t let them be idle in the village, most likely they will go back to crime and it will be a zero-sum game,” Ismael said. 

He noted that the government needs to empower young people through sensitisation and education as they are the weakest link due to the continued vice. 

“When the two young men accepted to shun cattle rustling and instead go to school, we went to the TVET and asked that they be given an opportunity.

“Today they are a confident lot looking forward to a bright future and have turned into peace ambassadors in the villages around Silale,” he said.