West Pokot approves law aimed at aiding peace efforts N Rift

Peace efforts in the banditry prone North Rift region have received a boost after the West Pokot County Peace Building and Conflict Management Bill was signed into law.

The Bill passed by the West Pokot County Assembly is expected to boost security along the boundaries West Pokot shares with other counties by putting in place strategies to curb perennial conflicts in the region.

West Pokot Governor Simon Kachapin, who signed the Bill into law, said it will be crucial in co-ordinating peace programmes along the county boundaries.

According to Kachapin, the law forms a legal framework for engagement in matters of peace and will guide engagements with stakeholders and partners in the county on matters related to peace.
“We thank the County Assembly for passing these Bills in record time and the continued partnership with the executive,” he said.

Kachapin (pictured) said the County will now have a peace directorate which will help in coordinating peace building programmes and conflict resolution mechanisms in the region.

“We have been experiencing perennial conflicts along the County borders. We have been acting in the wrong way. We  will now be able to allocate resources to fight banditry,” said Kachapin.

Perennial conflicts

He added that the law will give life to structures such as the peace committees and provide a term of engagement with partners.

“The perennial conflicts have made us lag behind in development. Over time, the National Government has been coordinating alone. We can’t do anything without peace. We need a long lasting solution to insecurity,” said Kachapin.

West Pokot County Assembly Speaker Fredrick Kaptui said the County has been having challenges along its borders.

He said that they are putting in place structures on how to address issues of insecurity.
“We thank members of the County Assembly for making sure that we have the right content in the Bill. We now have a formal way of addressing conflict along our borders,” said Kaptui.

Situation room

He said the Finance Bill will help in collecting revenue starting January 2024.

County Executive member for Public  Service  Management and peace  in the in office of the Governor Martin Lotee said the  peace directorate will work even weekends.

“They will be reporting to the County situation room on insecurity incidents. The reports will be given to the security teams,” said Lotee.

He urged investors to invest in the county as the law will help in promoting peace in the region. 

“We now have someone in charge of peace. We know who will call a peace meeting. We shall be able to work with non Governmental organizations. We shall not duplicate peace programmes but we shall make sure each partner deals with something different like peace resilience projects, peace committees and policy,” said Lotee.