Do title deeds hold key to peaceful Kerio Valley?

When residents of Chepsigot in Kerio Valley demonstrated over allegation that wealthy individuals had grabbed Kapkomool community land. [File, Standard]

Bandits may soon find it difficult to roam and wreak havoc in Kerio Valley, a region that has been characterized by bloodletting for decades.

That is if the government hastens proposed land adjudication across the belt that has been baptized 'the Valley of Death.'

On Friday, the Ministry of Lands, in a gazette notice, announced the commencement of adjudication, a process that would see residents of the volatile region own title deeds.

Kerio Valley has been a community land where clans graze their livestock freely on the pasture-rich areas along the Kerio River which also acts as the border between Elgeyo Marakwet and Baringo counties.

However, cattle theft and inadequate pasture and water resources have resulted in fierce fights and revenge attacks for decades.

Gun battles worsened since 2016, resulting in hundreds of deaths, with several attempts by the government to restore calm failing.

Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome announced that notices of intention to survey and demarcate the area would be published.

"The Cabinet Secretary shall proceed to publish the notices of the intention to survey, demarcate for registration of communities and community land in the schedule by section 8 (4) of the Community Land Act and any other law relating to adjudication of titles to land," Wahome said in the notice.

Land owned by 39 clans in the Elgeyo Marakwet side of Kerio Valley is set to be adjudicated, a move aimed at encouraging the development of property located in grazing fields.

Locals said the commencement of adjudication signals an end to nomadic pastoralism, which has been blamed for deadly banditry.

"Adjudication will be the lasting solution to the conflicts in Kerio Valley. It is a welcome move and as a resident, locals will have the opportunity to develop the vast community land which bandits have converted to battlefields for years.

"The region produces the best mangoes, bananas and pawpaws among other fruits because it has the best climatic conditions. It will be an opportunity to expand fruit farming and dairy farming. There will be no battlefield when landowners get their title deeds," Pius Kipchoge, a resident, told The Standard.

Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Wisley Rotich said he was hopeful that apart from bringing calm, the adjudication would result in economic growth in a region that has seen no peace for years.

"Land adjudication and titling will cause economic revolution and turn the valley to a real valley of opportunity. We will follow up all pending titles across the county," Rotich said yesterday.

According to the gazette notice, 17 locations among them Endo, Talai, Koibirir, Murkutwo, Mokoro, and Chechan were listed for the impending demarcation.

Others are Kibiriem, Sibow, Ketut, Chemwonyo, Mon, Kibaimo, Rimoi and Kamogich.

Talai, Kasugut, Shaban, Kapterik, Kasike, Kapishoi, Kasogon, Mokoro, Kwenoi, Kasegei, Kasang, Biyaa, Tinyar, Sagat, Kiptakitwa, Kabasiran and Kapkeny are examples of clans whose community lands are earmarked for survey and demarcation.

Some clans have been battling for ownership of land in parts of the Kerio Valley. For instance, Kapishoi and Kapsiren have been fighting for land in Endo for years.

In 2019, the government directed the two clans to keep off a disputed land until the matter is resolved.

Five years ago, armed men from Kapkeny and Kabasiran clans in Mogil area along the Kerio Valley engaged in a fierce gun battle that lasted three hours, resulting in the death of an elderly man.