Sandalwood smugglers will be apprehended and prosecuted

Unscrupulous sandalwood smugglers in Baringo County will face serious prosecution and apprehension once they are caught by the rule of the law.

Senior Director Kenya Forest Service (KFS) Esau Omolo has warned the sandalwood marketers who try to extract the endangered tree species to get millions that they are cooperating with county commissioners across the country to tighten all the loopholes.

"Baringo is well covered with forest but sandalwood is the most targeted tree species and that is why we shall be on our toes until the time the illegal trade is stopped," the director added.

Omolo said on Friday during a press briefing after a closing ceremony of a two weeks training of 35 KFS inspectors at Kenya School of Government in Kabarnet where they launched a patrol register that will be centralized in their headquarters to document all its activities.

Director General Kenya School of Government Dr Lodeki Chwea who was the chief guest in the ceremony urged the inspectors to fully accomplish their work as per the set standards by KFS.

Chwea noted that being inspector is the lowest rank in KFS hierarchy and thus should perform well as supervisors and practice professionalism without supervision by commanders.

"You should owe to professionalism standards which include applying exact dimensions while digging a hole to plant a tree seedling even if no one is seeing you," Chwea reiterated.

The director general stated that no reason is accepted for incomplete work adding the officers should protect the profession by upholding dignity, honour and decorum in professionalism.

Chwea said those officers who do unsatisfactory work should never be given promotion unless they perfect their qualities to proof they can make good supervisors.

The director called on forest officers to be keen on the tree population and where possible do a sensor of trees saying each tree we have is a treasure.

“Sufficient human capacity to count each tree and give it a certificate of registration is important and enables one to identify a tree once it is cut down without permission,” the director general added.

He urged National Environmental Management Council (NEMA) to take seriously matters of forest service and detest felling of trees by issuing heavy penalties to those who cut the trees illegally while reducing the number of permit issued.

The ceremony ended with the awarding of certificate of training to all the 35 forest inspectors who participated in the exercise from various parts across the country.

Residents want a maternity wing open

Residents in Kapkelelwa in Baringo Central Sub County call on the county government to open a maternity wing for Kapkelewa health center which has been in operation for 50 years.
The hospital’s committee chairperson Simon Komen said the hospital has been in operation since 1965 but has never had an equipped maternity wing to enable women deliver in the hospital despite having beds in the hospital.
Komen noted that the hospital has one clinical doctor and one health officer but need a gynecologist to operate in maternal section saying the hospital should have reached a level three as it has been operational for a long period of time.
“This is not a community facility but a government hospital that should have been equipped with all the necessary facilities to serve the residents in the area as it is difficult to access other nearby facilities due to poor transport system in the area,” Komen reiterated.
The chairman urged the county government to supply them with an ambulance to aid them in ferrying referred patients to the county referral hospital stating that the ambulance in Mogorwo health center is unable to cross the seasonal rivers which are impassable during rainy seasons due to poor road networks in the area.
Komen noted that the health center has neither been given full laboratory equipments nor a lab technician thus reducing the hospital’s potential in attending patients.
Mogorwo health center committee chairperson Enock Kirui said the maternity wing has been operational in the area but have faced challenges of water shortages as they are forced to higher water from a river nearby during dry season since they are dependent on the rainy water.
The two addressed the residents and guests present yesterday during the reception of four adjustable electrical beds each in their respective hospitals.

Rising Cases of Land Conflicts should be solved Communally.

Communities fighting over land has been flooding in daily news headlines since independence with most of the cases being done upto date without a lasting resort being reached.

Environmental degredation has depleted stingless bees

A study carried out by National Museums of Kenya showed that stingless bees are endangered by continuous environmental pollution.

A man charged of having military and police uniforms

A middle aged man from Kambi Samaki town, Baringo County was today arraigned in Kabarnet law courts for being in possession of military and police uniforms.

Ken Achola was arrested on 14th October this year by police officers for having a military trouser, a belt, a jangle bag and a Kenya Police jangle trouser.

Achola who was brought before Principal Magistrate Samson Temu was unable to explain to the court where he got the clothes which were found inside his friends house where he had been hosted a night before the arrest.

The suspect said he slept in the house where he saw the uniforms and decided to report the matter to Marigat police who accompanied him to the house but found his colleague missing.

“Since my host was not available in the house, the police turned against me and went ahead to arrest me,” he added.

The accused who had been in remand for the last 53 days accepted the charges but pleaded innocent saying he was not in possession of the items in question adding that the owner escaped before the police arrived at the house.

Since the accused pleaded not guilty he was taken back to the remand waiting for a mention of the case on 9th December this year.

It calls for perfect satisfaction

As 2017 general elections approaches, citizens need to see sustainable development brought by the devolution government in their counties.

This has prompted formation of groups by civic educators to sensitise citizens on the need for citizen participation in fostering good governance.

Baringo Elites Movement is a unique virtual group on what's up with a thread of 100 participants and focuses on developments, finance management, transparency and accountability in Baringo county.

The group's president, Reuben Argut said the group oversees project implementation in the county and has a virtual parliament where they invite senior county officials.

"We have invited various county officials including the governor for serious interrogation on what is happening in the county," Argut noted.

Argut said the group is four months old and shall never be stopped nor threatened by anyone as it is difficult to locate the members to whom he specified they are widely dispersed as far as Miami.

The president said the group wants the citizens to be given true information on what the county government is doing to better the lives of county residents who continue to languish in abject poverty.

"We are not focusing on individuals in the county but we are concerned with the management of public affairs," the president added.

Argut stated that the group is a unique one as it discusses serious issues unlike other social media groups saying one of the achievements they made was questioning county security officials to answer sandalwood scandal at Nakuru last month.

"We probed for answers towards the ferrying of the endangered species towards Nakuru by a government track a move led to a directive to burn 13.5 tonnes of sandalwood accumulated since 2010 in Kabarnet police station despite court exhibit having been finished," Argut restated.

Argut noted that they were able to save a 10 year old boy from a deadly skin disease which had persisted for five years without treatment through an initiative called 'save Tiaty child now' where they raised sh 56,000 to aid in salvaging the child.

The president said the group is ready to work with the government in a transparent way like the way they have teamed up in Tembea Baringo Caravan programme to explore the county.

Paradigm shift to Kenyan pastoralists

Dr. James Kandagor, a doctorate medic from the University of Iowa almost lost his life to the hands of armed Pokot men who were ready to trigger a riffle on him.

Kandagor having been born in Bartabwa in Baringo North Sub County with fluency in Tugen and Pokot language saved himself by pleading in Pokot Language that he was a Pokot and need not be killed.

In19th century, his close relatives had been killed by cattle rustlers and bandits which was rampant during the time until they were forced to leave their ancestral land thus being rendered homeless.

After the tragedy, Kandagor did not stop calling for peace in Baringo and its neighboring counties like Samburu, Elgeiyo Marakwet, Pokot and Turkana but initiated the anti cattle rustling and Kaporion peace net programme.

Kandagor said Kaporion peace net is a programme formed to compensate people who lost lives and property due to the massive killing at Chepkesin in Baringo North Sub County in 1907 where over two hundred young men died.

The men were said to be killed by Pokot men headed by Loiwalan who managed to lure the 200 warriors into the so called peacemaking between the Pokot and Tugen men in order to allow the Pokot to graze their livestock in the area to which they killed all the men on the spot before running away with hundred heads of cattle, Kandagor stated.

Kandagor said he was appointed by interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery as the CEO of anti cattle rustling programme in 18 counties affected by cattle rustling and banditry when he presented his proposal to the national government.

After conducting a peace race from Lake Turkana to Bogoria, cattle rustling menace reduced in Baringo County an action that probed Nkaissery to appoint me as the CEO of the program when President Uhuru Kenyatta accepted my proposal, Kandagor restated.

The CEO without hesitation initialized a 11 years anti cattle rustling programme that deals with all issues related to injustices caused by cattle rustling in Kenya.

Kandagor said that modern ranches shall be constructed in areas affected by cattle rustling and banditry majorly Baringo East sub county and its surroundings and shall benefit Tugen, Ilchamus, Marakwet and Pokot communities.

"I saw it better to start the programme at home to prove that it works because I believe what is practiced in Texas, America is also possible in Kenya and I want my county to benefit fast," Kandagor added.

Kandagor said once the ranches are complete, cattle rustling will be controlled as the ranches shall have two gates, four fences made of chain, electric, planted and cemented fences with Anti Stock Theft Unit police camp (ASTU)outside ranch.

The animals in the ranch will be sold inform of carcass as they shall be slaughtered before being taken out for sale and only herdsmen to be allowed inside the ranch with the animals bearing unique codes for identification, the CEO added.

Kandagor said the ranches shall be equipped with modern facilities such as exhibition yards, slaughter houses, water dams, vaccination centers, animal hospitals, milking yards, CCTV cameras and guest hospitals. Wildlife section and forest yards will be included.

The ranches shall be tourist’s site as visiting days will be selected to showcase the activities in the ranches and for viewing of wild animals tamed inside, the CEO remarked.

Kandagor explained that recycling activities for bones, horns, hoofs, hides, wool and teeth shall be done. Animal exhibition shall be done annually.

The CEO believes that through introduction of ranches, pastoralists are able to improve their living standards, send their children to school and practice modern ways of paying bridal price instead of the traditional way where raiding cattle was seen as a way of acquiring wealth to pay bride price.

Kandagor believe that the multibillion ventures are achievable as all the projects he started during his practice as a doctor such as Ampath programme which was initiated in 2001 were all successful and are applied to date.

Kandagor initiated Ampath programme in 2001 when he wrote a proposal to US aid after observing the stigma that HIV/AIDS patients went through as soon as they were diagnosed with the virus since they felt secluded from the community due to myths and misconception about the pandemic during the time.

The proposal went through and US aid donated three million US dollars that managed to build 104 rooms and later received 25 billion shillings for equipping the facility after writing the second proposal, Kandagor attested.

Kandagor said para lympics and deaf lympics were among the successful endeavors he started to enable people with disabilities participate in sports as part of exercise and a way of accepting them in society.

Baringo County Commissioner Peter Okwanyo supported the idea to compensate the affected communities and end cattle rustling saying everybody is accountable in the area where the cattle are driven to and that these who take the cattle are ordered to return them as soon as possible.

"Cattle rustling results from insufficient pasture which leads to trespass to the neifhbourhood thus encouraging livestock theft and coflict in such areas," Okwanyo added.