Pastoralists, politics, development projects & conflict in Kenya

Dryland counties of northern Kenya are expected to undergo massive change in the coming years because of the Government’s ambitious infrastructural development agenda, but the area frequently experiences ethnic and political conflict. A case study was made in Isiolo County, where planned development projects and conflict risks coincide. In the Bonn International Centre for Conversion (BICC) Working Paper 7 “Pastoralists, politics and development projects: understanding the layers of armed conflict in Isiolo County, Kenya” (2019, 40pp), Kennedy Mkutu explores the complexity of conflict in Isiolo, Kenya, and the emerging effects of new plans and land claims. This research was done in the framework of the project “Future Rural Africa: future-making and social-ecological transformation” by the Universities of Bonn and Cologne, BICC and universities in Namibia, Kenya and Tanzania.

Conflict between pastoralist groups or between pastoralists and crop farmers is motivated by the need for basic survival (herd mobility and access to water and pasture) and the accumulation of livestock wealth. Politics, which generally goes along ethnic lines in Kenya, adds another layer to the inter-communal conflict through the need for political survival and the accumulation of personal wealth. Development planning is a new and potent factor in conflict at both political and community levels. A careful, inclusive conflict-sensitive approach to development is essential, but this is unlikely to happen if leaders look for personal power and gain, as appears to be the case in Kenya.

Posted on 22 December 2019 in Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism & Peacebuilding, Pastoralism, Mobility & Land Tenure, Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition