Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T05:10:48.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changes and Challenges of the Kenya Police Reserve: The Case of Turkana County

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2015

Kennedy Mkutu Agade
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

In rural Kenya, the main visible security force is the Kenya Police Reserve, an unpaid force guarding localities and armed by the state. Turkana County faces challenges of low state penetration, small arms flows, and armed intercommunal conflict. The state has a weak hold on Kenya Police Reservists (KPRs) and their arms, and this situation is weakening further as many move into paid private security roles, including guarding oil exploration and drilling sites. Security is critical in view of the recent oil discovery and ensuing land disputes which could trigger widespread conflict, and the recent devolution of development and administrative functions to counties in Kenya.

Résumé:

Dans le Kenya rural, la force principale visible de sécurité est la police réserviste du Kenya, une force non rémunérée armée par l'État, engagée pour protéger les localités. Le comté de Turkana fait face à des problèmes de faible pénétration de l'État dans les réseaux criminels, d’échanges d'armes légères, et de conflits armés intercommunaux. L’État a une faible emprise sur la police du Kenya (les réservistes KPR) et leurs armes, et celle-ci diminue encore depuis le départ de policiers vers des postes rémunérés dans le secteur privé, y compris celui de la surveillance de sites d’exploration et de forage de pétrole. La sécurité de ces sites est essentielle compte-tenu que la découverte récente de pétrole a engendré des conflits fonciers qui pourraient déclencher un conflit généralisé, et compte tenu de la décentralisation récente au Kenya des fonctions de développement et d’administration vers les comtés.

Keywords

PastoralismTurkanaKenyapolice reserveKPRoilsecuritygovernanceconflict
Type
ARTICLES
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , April 2015 , pp. 199 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, David. 2002. “Vigilantes, Violence and the Politics of Public Order in Kenya.” African Affairs 101 (405): 531‒55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, David. 1991. “Policing, Prosecution and the Law in Colonial Kenya, c. 1905‒39.” In Policing the Empire: Government Authority and Control, 1830‒1940, edited by Anderson, David and Killingray, David, 183‒200. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, David. 1986. “Stock Theft and Moral Economy.” Africa 56 (4): 399‒416.Google Scholar
Angira, Z., and Osarigo, C.. 2012. “Police Reservists on the Spot after Massacre.” Daily Nation, November 16.Google Scholar
Aukot, Ekuru. 2013. “Oil and Gas Exploration and Extraction in Turkana County: Intrigues, Issues and Concerns.” Paper presented at the conference “Africa-Wide Convening on Governance of Oil and Extractive Industry: Experiences and Lessons from Kenya.” Simba Lodge, Naivasha, January 31.Google Scholar
Baker, B. 2009. “The Future Is Non-State.” In The Future of Security Sector Reform, edited by Sedra, Mark, 208‒28. Ontario: Center for International Governance Innovation.Google Scholar
Baker, Bruce, and Scheye, Eric. 2007. “Multi-Layered Justice and Security Delivery in Post-Conflict and Fragile States.” Conflict, Security and Development 7 (4): 503‒28.Google Scholar
Barber, James. 1968. The Imperial Frontier: A Study of Relations between the British and the Pastoral Tribes of Northeast Uganda. Nairobi: East African Publishing House.Google Scholar
Bevan, James. 2008. Blowback: Kenya’s Illicit Ammunition Problem in Turkana North District. Occasional Paper 18. Geneva: Small Arms Survey.Google Scholar
Bii, Barnabas, and Kipsang, Wycliffe. 2012. “Security Beefed Up on Kenya–Ethiopia Border to Avert Merrile Militia Attack.” Daily Nation, May 9.Google Scholar
Branch, Daniel. 2009. Defeating Mau Mau: Counterinsurgency, Civil War and Decolonization. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bollig, M. 1990. “Ethnic Conflicts in North-West Kenya: Pokot‒Turkana Raiding” Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 115: 73‒90.Google Scholar
BP. 2012. “Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2012.” London: BP.Google Scholar
Buzan, B. 1998. People, States and Fear. 2nd edition. Colchester: ECPR Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, Ivan, et al. 2009. Climate Change and Conflict: Lessons from Community Conservancies in Northern Kenya. London: Conservation Development Centre, International Institute for Sustainable Development and Saferworld.Google Scholar
Clayton, Anthony, and Killingray, David. 1989. Khaki and Blue: Military and Police in British Colonial Africa. Monographs in International Studies, Africa Series 51. Athens: Ohio University Centre for International Studies.Google Scholar
Daily Nation (Nairobi). 2003. “Kenya: All 5,000 Police Reservists to Go, Says Murungaru.” May 2.http://allafrica.com.Google Scholar
Daily Nation (Nairobi). 2012a. “400 Police Officers Posted in NEP to Boost Security.” July 6.Google Scholar
Daily Nation (Nairobi). 2012b. “County Boss Orders Arms Mopping Up.” August 8.Google Scholar
Daily Nation (Nairobi). 2014. “Crisis as South-Sudanese Flock to Refugee Camp.” May 7.Google Scholar
Deflem, Mathieu. 1994. “Law Enforcement in British Colonial Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Imperial Policing in Nyasaland, the Gold Coast and Kenya.” Police Studies 17 (1): 45‒68.Google Scholar
Dietz, Tony. 1987. Pastoralists in Dire Straits: Survival Strategies and External Interventions in a Semi Arid Region at the Kenya‒Uganda Border, Western Pokot, 1900‒1986. Amsterdam: Netherlands Geographical Studies.Google Scholar
Eaton, Dave. 2008. “The Business of Peace: Raiding and Peace Work along the Kenya–Uganda Border (Part I).” African Affairs 107 (426): 89‒110.Google Scholar
Fleisher, M. L. 1999. “Cattle Raiding and Household Demography among the Kuria of Tanzania.” Africa 69 (2): 238‒57.Google Scholar
Gettleman, Jeffrey. 2012. “To Save Wildlife, and Tourism, Kenyans Take Up Arms.” The New York Times, December 29.Google Scholar
Gisesa, N. 2014. “Turkana’s Wind Project Recognised Globally.” The Standard, June 26.Google Scholar
Government of Kenya (GoK). 2004. Hansard, No. 3587. Nairobi: Government Printers.Google Scholar
Government of Kenya (GoK). 2008. “National Vision and Strategy 2005‒2015.” Arid Lands Resource Management Project II, Ministry of State for the Development of Northern Kenya and Other Arid Lands (MDNKAL). Nairobi: Government Printers.Google Scholar
Government of Kenya (GoK). 2004. “Report of the National Task Force on Police Reforms.” Nairobi: Government Printers.Google Scholar
Government of Kenya (GoK). 2011b. “National Policy for the Sustainable Development of Northern Kenya and Other Arid Lands.” Nairobi: Government Printers.Google Scholar
Government of Kenya (GoK). 2011c. “The Kenya Police Annual Crime Report for the Year 2010.” Nairobi: Government Printers.Google Scholar
Heald, Suzette. 2006. “State, Law and Vigiliantism in Northern Tanzania.” African Affairs 105 (419): 265‒83.Google Scholar
Hendrickson, D., Armon, J., and Means, R.. 1998. “The Changing Nature of Conflict and Famine Vulnerability: The Case of Livestock Raiding in Turkana District, Kenya.” Disasters 22 (3): 185‒99.Google Scholar
Hill, Alice. 2012. “Policing a Plurality of Worlds: The Nigerian Police in Metropolitan Kano.” African Affairs 111 (442): 46‒66.Google Scholar
Hill, Alice. 2007. “Police Comissioners, Presidents and the Governance of Security.” Journal of Modern African Studies 45 (3): 403‒23.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 2002. “Playing with Fire: Weapons Proliferation, Political Violence and Human Rights in Kenya.” Washington, D.C.: Human Rights Watch.Google Scholar
Jourdan, Luca. 2011. “Mayi Mayi: Young Rebels in Kivu, DRC.” Africa Development 36 : (3‒4): 89‒111.Google Scholar
Kavilu, Shadrack. 2013. “Oil Discovery Brings Ray of Hope to Turkana Indigenous Community.”www.galdu.org.Google Scholar
Kenya Institute of Administration (KIA). 2011. Survey [n.t.]. September.Google Scholar
Kipsang, W. 2014. “Four Dead as Raiders Strike in 10 Villages.” Daily Nation (Nairobi), June 18.Google Scholar
K24 TV (Kenya). 2010. “Police Reservists Unit to be Dismantled Temporarily.” April 16.www.youtube.com.Google Scholar
Lamphear, John. 1992. The Scattering Time: Turkana Responses to Colonial Rule. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Lonsdale, John. 1989. “The Conquest State, 1895‒1904.” In A Modern History of Kenya, 1895‒1980, edited by Ochieng, William. R., 6‒34. Nairobi: Evans Brothers Ltd.Google Scholar
Lutta, S. 2014. “Four Killed in an Attack by South Sudanese.” Daily Nation (Nairobi), June 29.Google Scholar
Maridanyi, K. 2001. “Kenya: Government Disarms 600 Reservists in Tana River.” The Standard, December 24.Google Scholar
McCabe, J. Terrence. 1990. “Success and Failure: The Breakdown of Traditional Drough Coping Institutions among the Pastoralist Turkana of Kenya.” Journal of Asian and African Studies 25 (3‒4): 481‒95.Google Scholar
McCabe, J. Terrence. 2011. Cattle Bring Us to Our Enemies: Turkana Ecology, Politics and Raiding in a Disequilibrium System. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Mkutu, Kennedy. 2001. Pastoralism and Conflict in the Horn of Africa. London: Africa Peace Forum, Saferworld, University of Bradford.Google Scholar
Mkutu, Kennedy. 2007. “Small Arms and Light Weapons among Pastoral Groups in the Kenya‒Uganda Border Area.” African Affairs 106 (422): 47‒70.Google Scholar
Mkutu, Kennedy. 2005. “Pastoralism and Small Arms Conflict in the North Rift, North East Africa.” Ph.D. diss., University of Bradford.Google Scholar
Mkutu, Kennedy. 2008. Guns and Governance in the Rift Valley: Pastoralist Conflict and Small Arms. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Mkutu, Kennedy, and Marani, Martin. 2014. “Changing Security Context in Kenya’s Devolved Governance”Nairobi: Centre for Human Rights and Policy Studies.Google Scholar
Mkutu, Kennedy, and Sabala, Kizito. 2007. “Security Companies in Kenya and Dilemmas for Security.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 25 (3): 391‒416.Google Scholar
Mkutu, Kennedy, and Wandera, Gerard. 2013. “Policing the Periphery: Opportunities and Challenges for Kenya Police Reserve. Geneva: Small Arms Survey.Google Scholar
Muhereza, Frank, Wairigu, Francis, and Kimani, John. 2011. “Disarmament Experiences in RESCA Region, with Particular Reference to Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda.” Nairobi: Regional Centre on Small Arms.Google Scholar
Mutambo, Aggrey, et al. 2012. “Simmering Border Disputes in Battle to Control Oil, Gas.” The East African News, August 25‒31.Google Scholar
Ng’asike, Lucas. 2013. “Your Days Numbered, Lenku Tells Rustlers.” The Standard, July 14.Google Scholar
Njagih, M. 2013. “Motion on Training Kenya Police Reservists Passed.” The Standard, September 19.Google Scholar
Obala, R. 2014. “Parliament Passes Police Bill, Defies Opposition.” Standard Digital, May 1. http://www.standardmedia.co.Google Scholar
Obare, Osinde, and Ng’asike, Lucas. 2012. “Rustlers Kill 7 Herders on Troubled Border.” The Standard, March 26.Google Scholar
Onsarigo, C. 2012. “GSU Recovers 16 Guns in Tana Delta.” The Daily Star, October 5.Google Scholar
Ombati, Cyrus. 2012. “Chiefs Ordered to Surrender Arms.” Daily Nation (Nairobi), February 1.Google Scholar
Omari, Emman. 2011. “Named: Kenya’s Richest and Poorest Counties.” Daily Nation (Kenya), December 17.Google Scholar
Reisman, Lainie, et al. 2013. “Tackling the Dangerous Drift: An Assessment of Crime and Violence in Tanzania.” Washington, D.C.: Open Society.Google Scholar
Ruteere, Mutuma. 2011. “More Than Political Tools: The Police and Post-Election Violence in Kenya.” African Security Review 20 (4): 11‒20.Google Scholar
Ruteere, Mutuma, and Pomerolle, Marie Emmanuelle. 2003. “Democratizing Security or Decentralizing Repression? The Ambiguities of Community Policing in Kenya.” African Affairs 102 (409): 587‒604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sambu, Z. 2014. “More Oil Found Off the Lamu Coastline.” Daily Nation, June 18.Google Scholar
Salmon, Jago. 2007. A Paramilitary Revolution: The Popular Defence Forces. Geneva: Small Arms Survey.Google Scholar
The Peoples Daily. 2012. “PC Warns Police Reservists.” March 6.Google Scholar
The Star. 2012. “Police Reservists in Maralal Disarmed to Curb Insecurity.” May 23.Google Scholar
Thiong’o, Peterson, and Kimani, Mwaura. 2012. “Tullow, Africa Oil, Find More Oil in Kenya, Suspend Ngamia-1 Drilling.” The East African (Nairobi), July 4.Google Scholar
Vlassenroot, Koen, and van Acker, Frank. 2001. “War as Exit from Exclusion? The Formation of Mayi-Mayi Militias in Eastern Congo.” Afrika Focus 17 (1‒2): 51‒77.Google Scholar
Wachira, Muchemi. 2012. “Blunder Cost Officers Their Lives.” Daily Nation, November 14.Google Scholar
Waller, Richard. 2010. “Towards Contextualization of Policing in Colonial Kenya.” Journal of East African Studies 4 (3): 525‒41.Google Scholar
Wesonga, M. 2014. “County to Allocate Funds for Police Reservists’ Allowance.” The Standard, June 19.Google Scholar
Wepundi, Manasseh, et al. 2012. Availability of Small Arms and Perceptions of Security in Kenya: An Assessment. Special Report. Geneva: Small Arms Survey.Google Scholar
World Resources Institute. 2007. Nature’s Benefits in Kenya: An Atlas of Ecosystems and Human Well-Being. Washington, D.C.: World Resources Institute.Google Scholar