The Pokots: "The Bandit Lot"

You read in the papers, "Raiders believed to be from West Pokot have moved with 400 heads of cattle and killed 12 people". You turn in your seat in disgust and say "These Pokots have nothing to do--just stealing and killing". From your TV set you watch that Pokots carry guns just as people do walking sticks.Your minister for Internal Security calls for an Operation to disarm them and knock their heads off. Then in the comfort of your living room you say "Time this bandit lot were taught a lesson--enough of their bloodbath!" Over the years you come to regard the Pokots as dark-skinned, blood-shot eyed, blood-thirsty and ready-to-kill lot. Over the years you have concluded that the Pokots might not even be human beings.For you think, what is human when he kills? What is human when he steals from the other? Therefore you have conjured the worst picture of what a Pokot is. You have become a puppet of the media.

In these coming pages I will show you why Pokots have been given a bad name yet they might be a peaceful lot. I will give you the other side of the Pokots because the press has resiliently held on raiding as "newsworthy pieces". And in the end I invite you to visit the Pokots themselves and meet them as "dark-skinned, blood-shot eyed, blood-thirsty and ready-to-kill lot". I will also invite you and see for yourself "how less of human beings they are"

This is the Pokot Story.


The Kitale Incident

This writer was in Kitale sometime in 2003 and met a mitumba seller, an entrepreneurial Kikuyu.Lorot Son of the Hills joked(of course he was serious) to him that he was a Pokot to which the seller looked at him questioningly for a couple of minutes and concluded, rather firmly, "No, not you--Wapokot hawaingii town, macho yao ni red na wako tayari kuua saa yoyote" which translates to, "no, not you--Pokots don't come to towns, their eyes are red and are ready to kill anytime".

This is the impression people have of the Pokots. I forgave the person--I knew he was another puppet of the media. This got me thinking--how much damage has been done to the Pokot image? Although I laughed it off then this was not a laughing matter.
Elsewhere, the only Pokot professor Lonyang'apuo, the then principal of Chepkoilel Campus of Moi University was telling us in a motivational speech about the difficulty of being a Pokot. You see, in the campus compound there were hundreds of cattle. The staff regarded him suspiciously. They feared that he might steal them one day. And when the day never came they concluded, "the man is just fattening them and big your surprise will be, good people". But he never stole the cows but they believed, rather superstitiously, that like a thief he is no one knows the day and the hour.

Which beggars the question: What are the human values of the Pokots?

The Human Values of the Pokots

"Kikuyus love money--if you want to know if they are truly dead in a mortuary then all you have to do is to drop a coin"
"Kambas are witches"
"Luos are a bragging lot"
"Pokots are raiders"

These are some of the many stereotypes that we have constructed for different communities. But are they just that? Can't they be beautiful, enchanting, productive, hospitable, honest and good neighbours? What are some of the positive aspects that we can identify from them?

Human values are multi-faceted.They refer to those endearing virtues that a fellow man is capable of having which reflect the good nature of man and the image of God.It might be inborn or learned.For example, a person's kindness might be inborn while tolerance might be learned due to exposure and peaceful co-existence with other people. Human values are the glue that hold people together.

My umblical cord is buried somewhere in the soil of West Pokot. I have lived in Pokot land the whole of my teenage years. I have observed their way of life and come to appreciate them.I have fallen in love with them. During Annual Music Festivals I have listened to their sacred songs and folk songs, enthrilled by their singing games and percussion.I have attended their Sapana ceremony and witnessed blessings being showered by grizzly old men. I have seen men caught in adultery being tied to trees and bitten by ants(kondolo). I have witnessed drought only for rainmakers to "beckon" rain in their torrents.

The Pokots are essentially spiritual people. When they call their God "Tororot" whom are they referring to? When they slaughter their bulls and offer them as sacrifices whom do they want to appease? And when a person dies and libation is poured, what do they believe of life after death? These are some of the questions we need to ask ourselves so that we can arrive at an incisive understanding of the Pokots.

There's a Pokot proverb which says "Kakisityi nyinte Mtelo" which translates to "He/she has been placed on the top of Mount Mtelo" Mt. Mtelo, according to the Pokots, is a "holy place". If then the Pokots take Mount Mtelo to be a holy place then what can we infer from this? It is this: The Pokots believe in a supreme being who resides, but not necessarily, at Mt. Mtelo.

I have also had the benefit of attending Pokot barazas locally referred to as "kokwo". You might call this their "arbitration system" or their "courts". From these sessions you might be led to conclude that Pokots are understanding and favour justice. There is a good hearing of a person's case. Both sides are well-heard before witty, old men who then pass judgment. In most cases their decisions are well-balanced and fair. This is Pokot justice. And if they be this just, wrong-doers in the communities are punished for their crimes to serve as deterrence to the others.So you will agree with me that the Pokots are not your dog-eat-man-man-eat-man kind of society. They have their codes, norms, customs and practices. In these "kokwo", men talk freely so that truth can be deduced.Pokots are interested in truth and not sugar-coated lies.That is why they are prepared to spend long hours to handle a case as long as truth will finally be manifested.

The Pokots are hospitable. Among the people, there is a saying that you cannot deny somebody "hyena's water" (pogho kawagh).It means you cannot deny somebody drinking water which is as "valueless" as to be drank by a hyena. Therefore visitors and strangers will be welcomed and provided a "hide" to sleep on for the night.They will be asked where they come from and where they are going to. Conversations will be not as sketchy as the modern world has been them to be. They will span years and months and range from the latest livestock disease to some undiscovered greener pastures in some other lands somewhere. These conversations will be skillfullly told and carefully listened to.

But perhaps what has always befuddled my mind is that if there is a people who fear the dead then it is the Pokots. Occasions have been many where dead relatives have been fled from. Years back there was a watchman from Konyao who died in Nairobi and a bus brought his remains to Konyao. Hardly had the coffin touched the ground than the relatives of the deceased scattered to the nearby bushes. Last year, I buried my aunt Kama Lotee in a remote village. Villagers stood at safe distance and watched in a perplexed manner as we dug the grave.They must have thought, "What people are these that can touch a dead person--ghosts?"

Then there is the "muma". Muma is your "swear occasion" where you swear that a calamity befall you if indeed you have done something.This happens when two people have differing opinions over something. One might say, "He did it" while the other might say "I didn't do it".In this case, there will be a muma. I have attended a "muma" before and I can confirm that my hair stood on ends. It was frightening. You see, muma is a serious thing which can wipe both distant and close relatives before visiting upon the "accused". Therefore, a liar will be forced to speak truth or else wipe away his entire lineage.

Life to Pokots is held sacred.To prove this point, there's a long-held tradition of "lapay" where one who kills is punished by having his relatives' cattle being taken away. Also, those who kill during raiding are normally "cleansed". Women and children, for this is like an abomination, are not to be killed fo whatsoever reason.Old men with prophetic glint will usually guide young warriors on what to do and no to do during raiding. One of them is unnecessary killings.

And speaking of raiding, this is a far more complex problem. This is not just theft and killing.It is not just some lawlessness.It is something to do with long-held tradition of "taking" (for that is how the Pokots refer to raiding) cows which had been "taken" away from them previously. I will be the first to admit that raiding is perhaps one of the worst manifestation of robbery with violence.It is theft and killing-for that is what it really is.Knee-jerk reaction of mounting operation on the community will not suffice.Neither will arrest do. It is about thinking along the lines of alternative custom and addressing the Pokot Problem.

This is the Pokot Problem: While Kenya moved after independence, the ordinary Pokot is 40 years back in the Kenyan clock. He lives a nomadic life with cow-track fields for roads and no water supply and no tangible means of survival like in the agriculture.He lives a boring life shut from the rigours of the racy Kenyan life.No one speaks of his problem and if one does it is to solicit for votes--not poverty alleviation.And when he come to the limelight it is all for the wrong reasons.He earns a theft tag and is regarded suspiciously.Tragically, he is left to his own means and the cycle continues on and on, ad infinitum.Thus he remains a raider and enjoys not the fruits of the modern Kenya.And when someone somewhere writes about their hspitality, their generosity and their attachment to the sacredness of life, a cynic will smirk that this is another PR endeavour.So the Pokot is regarded as the tyrant, the bulldog, the thorn in the flesh.Half of his story is told filled with plain hate and hasty generalisation.Another half is not told, things about "muma", "lapay", "Mount Mtelo" and the "kokwo".It is not told because it it a wide contrast from what is usually reported.It is not told because you might wonder whither come the calm and hospitability yet he is "blood-thirsty" "eager-to-kill or a "bandit-lot". It is not told because the Pokots are citizens like them, communities like others with norms and customs, codes and regulation.It is not told because this is not the Pokot story. The Pokot story has a human face, can cry, can console, can live with the other.