Peace Committees and Conflict Transformation in Kenya: A

PEACE COMMITTEES AND CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION IN KENYA: A

CASE OF KURIA COMMUNITY, MIGORI COUNTY

CORNELIUS WANYONYI WAMALWA

A Thesis submitted to the Graduate School in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for The Award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Peace and Conflict Studies

DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

KISII UNIVERSITY

2014 DECLARATION

This proposal is my original work and has not been presented for an award of a degree in any other University.

Signed ------Date ------

Cornelius Wanyonyi Wamalwa

DAS/60034/14

This PhD proposal has been submitted for examination with our approval as University

Supervisors.

Signed ------Date ------

Prof. Maurice N. Amutabi

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Kisii University

Signed ------Date ------

Dr. Eric Maseno Ogwora

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Kisii University

This thesis is copyright material protected under the Berne Convection, the copyright Act

1999 and other international and national enactments in that behalf, on intellectual property. It may not be reproduced by any means in full or in part except for short extracts, in fair dealing for research or private study, critical scholarly review or discourse with acknowledgment, with written permission of the Dean School of Graduate Studies on behalf of both the author and Kisii University.

ABSTRACT

Conflicts in many pastoral communities are often linked to competition over scarce resources and harsh climatic conditions that continue depleting the resource silo. In some cases, ethnicity has taken route leading to intractable conflict over time. In Kuria Sub County, conflict is sometimes experienced between different clans which engage in supremacy contests and the battles are won by the number of cattle acquired. This has necessitated the formation of Peace Committee within conflict prone areas to help resolve, manage and transform conflicts in a bid to attain sustainable peace. This study, therefore, sought to examine the place of Peace Committees in the establishment of sustainable peace in Kuria Sub County of the Migori County. Specifically, the study, determined the nature of conflicts in Kuria Sub County of Migori County. In addition, the study evaluated the role played by Peace Committees in Conflict Transformation processes in Kuria Sub County. The study also sought to assess the challenges faced by Peace Committees and examine policy gaps and inadequacies that hinder peace building initiatives in Kuria Sub County of Migori County. Research questions were drawn from the objectives of the study to guide the study. The Study was guided by the Structural Functionalism theory and the Social Conflict Theory. A case study design was adopted in the study and purposive sampling was used to select men and women in the peace committees. Both primary and secondary data was employed in the study. Qualitative techniques especially oral interviews and Focus Group Discussions were employed to collect data. Data was then analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. Quantitative data was tabulated and presented in figures and charts whereas qualitative data was coded into themes, topics and key issues. From the analysis, conclusions, recommendations and suggestions for further research were drawn. The study revealed that peace committees played a key role in conflict transformation processes in Kuria Sub County. However, the peace committees are faced with various challenges and so the need for a comprehensive legal environment that can support the work of peace committees. There is also the need for recognition of role played by committees in supporting the local processes which enhance ownership of conflict handling and peace building initiatives.

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DEDICATION

I dedicate this thesis to those who have suffered in the chronic conflicts which bedevils this country in some regions and to the voiceless peace makers who spend their time trying to create a conducive environment where people can live freely. This work appreciates your efforts.

God Bless Peace Makers, God Bless Kenya

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am deeply indebted to many individuals for their contribution in making this thesis undertaking possible. First, I extremely grateful to Prof. Maurice Nyamanga Amutabi and

Dr. Eric Maseno Ogwora who not only supervised this work, but also afforded me invaluable atmosphere that enabled me to work confidently. In addition, I appreciate Prof.

Kikaya, and Dr. Aleso Wangamati, who constantly reminded me of the keenness required to undertake a PhD programme. I am grateful for their constructive, balanced, objective and affirmative critical evaluation of my work, as well as their invaluable comments, suggestions and encouragement.

Secondly, my gratitude also goes to my employer Office of The President, Ministry of

Interior and Co-Ordination of National Government for their support to allow me undertake this programme. Thirdly, I am very grateful to Robert Rapando, Daniel Marwa, Hesbon,

Dennis Nyongesa, Anne Kamau and Mathis Mwita for their assistance in data collection.

In addition, am thankful to my doctorial colleagues notably Ms. Sellah King’oro, Ms.

Beldinah Otieno, Chris Khisa, Ms. Anne Sande and Cleophas Mbugua for their moral and academic support.

Finally, I wish to thank my family and particularly my wife Imelda Wamalwa and our children; Linda, Mercy, Cindy, Jeff and Wesley. I deeply appreciate you for your love, encouragement and patience during my absence.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION...... i

ABSTRACT ...... iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...... v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... vi

LIST OF FIGURES ...... x

CHAPTER ONE ...... 1 1.0 Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Background of the Study ...... 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ...... 13 1.3 Research Objectives ...... 17 1.4 Research Questions ...... 17 1.5 Justification of the Study ...... 18 1.6 Scope of the study ...... 23

CHAPTER TWO ...... 27

LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 27 2.0 Overview ...... 27 2.1 Theoretical Review ...... 27 2.1.1 General Perspective of Conflicts ...... 27 2.1.2 Overview of Conflicts in Kenya ...... 33 2.1.3 The Concept of Conflict Transformation ...... 40 2.2 The Concept of Peace and Relevance to the Study ...... 47 2.2.1 Peace and Economic Prosperity ...... 51 2..2.2 Peace and Legal Expectations ...... 53 2.2.3 Peace and the Legal Environment in Kenya ...... 55 2.2.4 Peace and Social Construction ...... 58 2.2.4 The Concept of Peace Building ...... 62

2.3 The Concept of Peace Committees ...... 63 2.3.1 Challenges faced by Peace Committees ...... 68 2.3.2 Peace Committees and Conflict Handlin Processes ...... 71 2.3.4 Peace Committees and Stakeholder Participation ...... 82 2.3.5 Peace Committees, Practice and Effectiveness in Conflict Transformation .... 85 2.3.6 Peace Committees, Policy Framework and Effective Conflict Transformation ...... 90 2.3.7 Peace Committees: Experience from other Countries ...... 95 2.3 Theoretical Framework ...... 97 2.4 Knowledge Gap ...... 100

CHAPTER THREE ...... 105

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...... 105 3.0 Overview ...... 105 3.1 Research Design ...... 105 3.2 Study Area ...... 106 3.3 Target Population ...... 107 3.4 Sample Size and Sampling Procedure ...... 108 3.5 Data Collection Instruments ...... 109 3.5.1 Primary Data ...... 109 3.5.1.1 The questionnaire(s)...... 110 3.5.1.2 Interview Schedules ...... 111 3.5.1.3 Focused Group Discussions ...... 111 3.5.1.4 .Observation checklist ...... 111 3.6 Reliability and Validity of Data Instruments ...... 112 3.7 Ethical Considerations...... 113 3.8 Data Analysis and Presentation ...... 115 3.9 Limitations ...... 117

CHAPTER FOUR ...... 118

FINDINGS, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS ...... 118 4.1 Demographic Characteristics ...... 118 4.1.1 Respondents’ Gender ...... 118 4.1.2Respondents’ education level(s) ...... 120 vii

4.1.3 Respondents’ Age ...... 122 4.1.4 Religious status of the respondents ...... 124 4.2 Nature of Conflict(s) Prominently Registered among the Kuria ...... 125 4.2.1 Social-Cultural Issues of Conflict ...... 133 4.3 The Role of Peace Committees ...... 136 4.3.1 Main actors in conflicts ...... 136 4.3.2 Composition of Peace Committees...... 139 4.3.3 The role of peace committees in fostering community unity ...... 141 4.3.4 Peace Committees and Conflict handling processes ...... 143 4.3.5 Peace Committees and stakeholder engagement ...... 146 4.4 Peace Committees and Peace Building Initiatives ...... 147 4.4.1 Peace Committees and Peace Practice...... 147 4.4.2 Peace Committees and Conflict Prevention ...... 148 4.4.3 Peace Committees and violent crisis ...... 149 4.4.4 Peace Committees and Conflict Transformation ...... 151 4.4.5 Peace Committees and Resilience building ...... 153 4.5 How Peace Committees Contributed Directly to Peace Building ...... 155 4.5.1 Peace Committees and Social Structures ...... 155 4.5.1.1 The Council of Elders ...... 156 4.5.1.2 Formation of youth mentorship programmes ...... 157 4.5.1.3 Making Women’s Contribution Significant...... 158 4.5.1.4 Peace Committees and Place of Religion ...... 160 4.6 Peace Committees and Economic Prosperity ...... 161 4.7 Limitations of Peace Committees ...... 162 4.7.1 Legal and Policy Handicaps ...... 163 4.7.2 Community Representation, Volunteerism and Operation(s) ...... 164 4.7.3 Poor Funding and partisanship ...... 165

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ... 169 5.1 Summary of Findings ...... 169 5.2 Recommendations ...... 173

RFERENCES ...... 179

APPENDICES ...... 191 APPENDIX I: Questionnaire for peace committee members ...... 191

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APPENDIX II: Interview schedule for Government officials, key informants ...... 200 APPENDIX III: Guide for focus group discussion ...... 206 APPENDIX IV: Observation Check List ...... 209

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Kuria Administrative Boundaries, Migori County, Kenya ...... 107

Figure 2: Gender of the Respondents...... 120

Figure 3: Education levels of the respondents ...... 122

Figure 4: Respondents age groups ...... 124

Figure 5: Religious affiliations of the respondents ...... 125

Figure 6: Nature and type of conflicts in Kuria region ...... 125

Figure 7: Thematic causes of conflicts in Kuria region ...... 128

Figure 8: Economic/social-cultural causes of conflict in Kuria ...... 130

Figure 9: Security Related Conflict Issues...... 132

Figure 10: Social-Cultural Issues of Conflicts ...... 136

Figure 11: Actors in conflict ...... 139

Figure 12: Peace Committees contribution to community unity ...... 143

Figure 13: Peace Committees and Conflict handling processes ...... 145

Figure 14: Peace Committees and Stakeholder Engagement ...... 147

Figure 15: Peace Committees and Conflict Prevention ...... 148

Figure 16: Peace Committees and violent conflict ...... 150

Figure 17: Peace Committees and Conflict Transformation ...... 153

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Data Collection Instrument and Sampling Method ...... 109

LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

ACLED Armed Conflict Location Event and Dataset ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution AU African Union CAJ Commission on Administrative Justice CAP Comprehensive Agreement on Peace CIC Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution CPRs Community Led Reconciliation Procedures DC District Commissioner DCC Deputy County Commissioner DPCs District Peace Committees FGD Focused Group Discussion GoK Government of Kenya IDPs Internally Displaced Persons11 IEBC Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission IGAD Intergovernmental Authority on Development KHRC Kenya Human Rights Commission KNDR Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation LPC Locational Peace Committee NCIC National Cohesion and Integration Commission NSC National Steering Committee on Peace Building and Conflict Management PC Peace Committees PCR Post Conflict Reconstruction PEV Post Election Violence SPLA Sudan People Liberation Army TJRC Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Program WPDC Wajir Peace and Development Committee

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction

This chapter discusses the background of the study in which the concept of conflict among the pastoralist communities. It also provides the general conflict scenario in Africa particularly Nigeria, Ethiopia and Southern Sudan. Secondly, it provides the statement of the problem in which the research has shared conflict perspectives focusing on the possible causes. In addition to this the section addresses the general and specific objectives of the study, as well as research questions that it is responding to. Lastly it provides the justification and scope of the study.

1.1 Background of the Study

The Kuria’s migration and settlement patterns reveal a very rich social cultural history that documents the journey travelled from northern part of Africa up to where they reside today. They have a strong network of clans and sub-clans with quite distinct cultural practices, particularly their rites of passage, marriage and kinship. The four clans resident in Kenya are the Abanyabasi, and Abairege who occupy the eastern side of Kuria and

Abagumbe and Abakira who are found in the western side of Kuria sub county, although others like Batimbaru, Banyamongo, Bakenye, Baikoma, Bamerani, Banchari, and

Batimbaru, are settled in Tanzania. There is recognition that these clans have what is referred to as “entrance or Ikhisaku which are smaller units of the bigger clans. The

Ikhisaku, is made up of groups like Bahirimbaki, bahirigaini and Muchari which then allow for the description of families and ancestral lineages (Njoroge, 2007).

The settlement patterns of the Kuria according to Prazak (2005) demonstrate the kind of challenges they have faced for many years. Having settled in an area where there are very strong neighbouring communities like the Luo, Kisii, Masai and Kipsigis, the

Kuria were left to occupy the unfriendly hills on the eastern part of Lake Victoria. This has made it difficult for the Kuria people to use land, which is particularly not arable. Such circumstances have not encouraged them to stick to their nomadic way of life seeking pasture, water and land for temporary but stable settlement. Prazak notes that the lifestyle of the Kuria people is not only anchored on a strong cultural foundation, but on the value and the place of cattle in the social-economic spectrum of this community. This strong attachment to cattle economically and socially according to Prazak largely accounts for the violent interactions that persist among the Kuria themselves and across their neighbours as well.

ACLED (2013) proffers that violent conflict in Africa which date many years are of different nature, with social, cultural, economic and political dimensions. Citing Algeria,

Egypt, democratic republic of Congo, and South Sudan ACLED notes that conflicts have continued to grow with ferocious intensity, particularly becoming more and more vicious.

Although, the conflicts are as a result of diverse motivations, it has been noted that economic drivers account for many conflicts. ACLED notes that, although conflicts have been rife and more intense in Africa for the past four decades, they (conflicts) has been consistent and destructive among the pastoralist groups found in Kenya, Ethiopia, South

Sudan, Uganda and Nigeria amongst others.

On adding value to what ACLED has done, Okolo & Okpaleke (2014) concede that conflict among pastoralist communities is not a new phenomenon. They cite the different motivations as to why such conflicts have been prevalent in the continent, noting that over time transition from rudimentary war like interactions have grown in to sophisticated, violent and destructive exchanges. Citing the case of Nigeria, they note that rustling in cattle has gradually grown in to a pattern of organized crime with immense criminal sophistication and efficiency. They attribute this to proliferation of small arms and light weapons, which have not only made these pastoralist’s conflicts ferocious but consistent as well.

Pastoralist conflicts are causing a lot of concern from state and non-state actors, in areas where they are prevalent, particularly because most of these conflicts have widened the scope and assumed transnational dimensions, previously confined to trans-locational

(Okoli & Atelhe, 2014). Further interrogation reveal that most conflicts among these pastoralists groups is as a result of deep seated cultural practices, stiff economic competition over the livestock rearing market and absence of political goodwill to contain the menace of cattle raiding. In showcasing the significance of understanding cattle raids as a major source of conflict, Okoli & Atlehe, assert, cattle rustling is not just a way of life for some communities, it is a survival mechanism, for those (communities) residing in very difficult geographical terrain(s) and harsh climatic conditions.

In this context and without any prejudicial dimensions, Okoli suggests that it takes the skill of a nomad to plan and prosecute a good cattle rustling deal. In this regard, the

Fulani-nomads of the Northern part of Nigeria seem to operate a transnational syndicate

that is hinged on a cyclic way of life, where communities steal from each other, through an offense and defense spectrum, in order to generate and sustain their resource bases, which highly depended on the cattle rearing.

Konrad Adenuer (2011) sums up the discussion that tries to track down the causes of conflicts among the Kuria, by identifying search for land, pasture and water as major contributors to the violence experienced from time to time. However, Adenuer, directs that the aforementioned issues must be looked at from the lenses of geographical and ethnic boundaries in the region. A study by European Union in collaboration with Konrad

Adenuer (2011) indicated that over 100 people had lost their lives within a period of only two years following border disputes. This was a demonstration of how deep the conflict scenario in the region required quick and objective attention. Conflict situation in the region is not limited to Kuria cultural practices and crime; it is also a product of different political lineages and ethnic differences (EU, 2011) which become conspicuous during election years in Kenya. The combination of the aforementioned factors make the conflicts a bit difficult to handle, and may require efforts that are both formal and informal. This scenario informs the “internal” aspects of the conflict, where intra community clashes are experienced and the “external’ where the Kuria sort out their differences with neighbouring communities.

Njoroge (2007) suggests that the cattle raiding among the Kuria community in

Kenya, has long been considered a symbol of wealth and prestige, which has since undergone profound transformation, from its demonstrative roles of warrior-hood bravery, to the expansion of the community cattle herd in to an illicit and violent, cash-market-

oriented enterprise. The aspect of cattle raiding has grown considerably due to the acquisition and easy access of small arms and light weapons among the Kuria, since the

1980s and 1990s.

However, peace building efforts must be put in place in order issues of conflicts that tend to threaten social and physical security particularly because the historical background on the subject of the Kuria community possessing arms goes back to the colonial period when the concept of tribal police was employed to guard against cattle rustling, this made gun ownership by the community an acceptable way of life. While this may have served a purpose then, it has increased ethnic instability due to sophisticated levels of banditry. This may even go higher considering that an estimation of in every seventy five (75) people there is at least one gun. (Ibid)

Different economic as well as social expectations between the neighbouring communities have led to persistent and destructive conflict scenarios Odhiambo (2012) indicates that economic drivers which are in conflict across and between the nomadic Kuria and the more agricultural oriented communities of the Luos, Kipsigis, and Kisii creates a corridor of uncertainty. The raids in cattle, though considered criminal in other jurisdictions of the surrounding communities remains a demonstration of the Kuria’s economic power, whose sustainability follows through the cultural demands of marriage, rites of passage, funerals and weddings, where cattle is celebrated as symbol of heroism and wealth in clans and among individuals too.

National Cohesion and Integration Commission (2012), attribute the conflict in

Kuria to the clan networks, which are founded on certain supremacy assumptions. This has 5

in turn led to adversarial groupings which fight against each other for land, pasture, water and sometimes political dominance. This scenario is made worse by the presence of similar family ties in Tanzania, and therefore differences in Kenya extend to the neighbouring state in the east African region, thus making this issue a cross border affair.

Annan (2000) suggests that the concept of peace must mean much more than the absence of war. It should consider human security beyond military terms, and encompass economic development, social justice, environmental protection, democratization, disarmament, respect for human rights and the rule of law. This assertion by the United

Nations was an attempt to deeply interrogate the root factors, which contribute to intractability of conflicts around the world. It is in this context that Aero (2013) denotes that the persistent conflicts among the Kuria requires peace building efforts which considers social, cultural, economic and political pillars. In his wisdom, Aero notes that conflict handling efforts in the region have been quite unsuccessful particularly because there has not been a comprehensive strategy to combat the menace of cattle raids among the many other issues compounding ethnic animosities.

In fact Aero emphasizes that state’s inability to recognize the effects of social inequalities and the incapacity to factor in the relevance of social control systems, continues to undermine any peace building efforts among the Kuria and their neighbours.

Drawing and joining the dots that explains the conflict matrix in Kuria, Aero argues that economic concerns emanating from livestock farming as the main source of livelihood, and the absence of a strong and viable customary natural resource governing mechanism contributes to the cyclic nature of the animosities displayed by the Kuria (Anna,2000).

Chidhakwa (2000) while focusing on the role of local community participation in conflicts specifically making reference to recognized conflict handling institutions at the grassroots asserts that ownership remains a key fundamental factor determining the resources and people investments in addressing conflicts. In fact Chidhakwa, highlights use of third parties, participatory rural appraisal, coalition building and economic development projects in facilitating negotiations among different warring parties and stakeholders. Chidhakwa, specifically magnifies the urgency to create a platform of equal power in a manner consistent to placing warring parties on a scale of unbiased negotiation.

Reading from Chidhakwa, is Mulugeta (2008) who affirms that non-participation and non-incorporation of the locally recognized and respected organs of conflict handling including and not limited to the council of elders defeats what would have otherwise been a successful peace building strategy. This is particularly so, because the community of the

Kuria, has such a strong affinity to their culture and trust their local conflict handling systems more than the formal ones, which appear imposed on them. According to

Mulugeta, social dynamics but particularly the urgency to link retarded development to the perennial conflict situation in the region, leaves politicians accused in the public court room as ineffective community diplomats, whose efforts have irredeemably failed to reduce the intensity and frequency of inter-ethnic conflicts in the region.

The situation in Kuria is compounded by the presence of vigilante groups like the

Sungusungu, Amachuma, Chinkororo and Itongo. These groups which have benefited from the proliferation of small sophisticated arms and light weaponry continue to wreck havoc in the region (Marwa, 2012). Although the beginning of the vigilante grouping was at the

time when insecurity was extremely high and the concept of community policing had just been introduced in the country. It has since evolved in to criminal gangs without and continues to cause havoc and mayhem.

The issue of vigilante groups brings in to focus the role of law enforcement agencies in ensuring that the rule of law is not observed but practiced too. It has been observed that law enforcement agencies seem to hold vested interests in the community conflicts among the Kuria. The lethargy displayed by police officers led to the formation and acceptance of

Chinkororo, Amachuma and Sungusungu by the local communities, as an alternative strategy to protection. However, Boke (2013) observed that these vigilante groups have since evolved in to gangs for hire, and they have particularly ensured that commerce in cattle raiding has been sustained.

The concern for community participation and the need of a sustainable responsive system of conflict transformation inspired Adan and Pkayla (2006) to advocate for the establishment of peace committees among such communities like the Kuria. In order to understand the clear role played about by Peace Committees in Kenya, particularly the northern part of the country, this study travelled the journey of conflict handling in the region and compared the same with other parts of the country. Importantly was also the focus on the specific role played by peace committees within the larger scenario, where peace building is inclusive processes of creating harmony between warring communities.

Peace Committees which can be traced back to back to the greater Wajir district, in the early 1990s, when local communities began employing traditional conflict management and peace building efforts to solve sporadic inter-clan and inter-community conflicts and 8

violence. At that time, most conflicts were limited to pastoralist communities. Eventually, the PC model spread to other arid and semi-arid districts in North Eastern, Eastern, North

Rift and Coast Provinces.Peace Committees were associated with pastoral communities till

2007/2008 during and after the post-election violence period (Adan and Pkayla, 2006).

The National Steering Committee (NSC, 2011) on Peace Building indicate that

Peace Committees received a lot more attention during the post-election negotiations in

2008 due to success stories from the Northern part of Kenya. Owing this impressive history of enhanced community relationships and existence of traditionally accepted structures of peace building, peace committees were identified and vouched for as the model of reconstructing failed community relations that had almost affected the whole country.

Having been copied and tried in the districts of Mandera, Garissa, Marsabit, Moyale,

Turkana, Pokot, and Tana River, it was only prudent that a recommendation out of the

Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Process under agenda Item number 21, that

Peace Committees be established in all districts across the country to further dialogue and reconciliation.

In this regard, the post-election violence of 2007/2008 and the subsequent strained relationships between communities which had lived together for decades necessitated the consistent and prominent use of Peace Committees in reducing, solving and stifling conflicts. It is this strength in faith about the effectiveness of Peace Committees that inspired this study to interrogate the contributions made towards conflict transformation in the conflict scenario present in the Kuria region (NSC, 2011).

Pkalya and Adan (2006) assert that Peace Committees tend to employ both traditional and modern conflict handling mechanisms in preventing, managing and transform intra and inter-ethnic conflicts. This study takes notice of the fact that Peace

Committees have been cited as instrumental peace building platforms in Kenya, particularly identified during the negotiations between politicians after the botched presidential elections of 2007, and is credited for reducing tension and improving the intercommunity relations. However, despite their successes, Peace Committees face a number of challenges, including the lack of a legal framework, lack of volunteers, funding, and ethnicity and political interference.

Odendaal and Oliver (2009) argue that Peace Committees have direct and tangible results. Reading from the South African experience where more than 200 Peace

Committees were established and 15,000 peace monitors trained across the country, under the National Peace Accord, Odendaal and Oliver suggest that Peace Committees pursued; violence reduction and prevention, dialogue, problem solving, community organizing and reconciliation, which were practical and relevant interventions of conflict resolution. In the context of these five areas, this study submitted to provide the appropriateness of establishing Peace Committees as the most formidable conflict transformation structure in

Kuria region.

This thesis demonstrated that Peace Committees were not just spaces for community organizing towards sustained dialogue, they also acted as platform for civil society voluntary participation, and allowed for the cooperation of political parties, private sector or business community and government agencies without unnecessary suspicion,

thus aiding in the re-imposition of the rule of law in communities where strife had destroyed primary relationship enhancing structures. As argued by Gordon (1997), Peace

Committees provided a basis upon which community could address issues by way of tradition, and therefore emphasized the incorporation of council of elders, youth representation, women and people living with disability, as well as other minorities.

The situation in Kuria can be compared with cases that were experienced in Liberia,

Nepal and Ethiopia. The Kuria youth has been militarized and the means by which they tend to sort out issues is laden with a lot of violence. This was demonstrated by Seba

(1979), who suggested that young men from the Kuria community were socialized in to warriors-like people, hence lacked the basic knowledge on matters of non-violent problem solving schemes. Further, they were closely oriented with the cultural practice that comes with rite of passage manifesting as cattle raiding to prove manhood. This study sought to bring out the role of young people in the conflict scenario of the region, but particularly contributions made by women in escalating or deescalating of conflicts among the Kuria.

There is no doubt that conflict among the Kuria and the neighbouring communities is a major concern to local, national and international players of development, particularly those focusing on peace building. Readings from Njoroge (2007), Okoli & Okpaleke

(2014) provide that cattle raids, presence of a skewed livestock market, cultural practices, struggle for land, pasture and water points inform the conflict continuum among and across the communities’ resident in the region. This scenario, made worse by the presence of vigilante groups (Marwa, 2012) and the unresponsive law enforcement agencies, as well as inadequate grassroots’ conflict handling mechanisms, calls for a more comprehensive

peace building strategy that appreciates the role of local communities in developing solutions to their own conflicts.

This study appreciated that the Kuria Community has a very rich cultural heritage, but did not negate the fact that some of the traditions and practices are retrogressive, primitive and stands no space in the where the rule of law must prevail. It further acknowledged the importance of socio-economic and political development that is a path which can create equal opportunities among Kuria and other surrounding communities.

This study is a concern to the growing urgency for finding sustainable peace among the communities in Kuria, but important establishing an environment in which conflicts can be handled effectively. It procures that peace building is not a preserve of government agencies (state actors) but a function of social stability that requires the participation of all stakeholders, specifically the local communities affected by the consequences of the same.

The purpose of the study was to establish and examine the contributions made by peace committees in addressing conflict among the Kuria. Looking at proposals made by Njoroge

(2007) and Marwa (2012) on the role of the law enforcement agencies, council of elders and prominent women caucus groups, the study underscores the significance of multi- stakeholder approach in addressing intractable conflict, for a sustainable solution. The study specifically questions the premise upon which laws are enforced, considering that cattle raiding is a criminal act on the one hand, while on the other it is glorified as traditional practice defining phase of life among the Kuria.

In finding a platform upon which such communities and most stakeholder can participate in addressing conflicts, the Peace Committees are not only an opportunity, but 12

a consistent and more accessible avenue by which ownership of peace process among the

Kuria can be localized. In fact Chidhakwa (2000) in the case of Zimbabwe’s natural resource management, asserts that only if local communities are allowed to facilitate negotiations, mediation and conciliation through an inclusive fact finding and consolidation, the process of conflict handling becomes alien to them, thus reducing chances for undertaking after conflict community reconstruction(s). The successes recorded by the Wajir Peace and Development (WPDC), and the recommendations from the Committee of Eminent Persons (2008) during the establishment of the coalition government in 2008, inspired this study to commit that intractable conflict scenario in

Kuria and among the Kuria can only be settled sustainably by vibrant peace committees, as has been in Rift Valley and Northern parts of Kenya.

However, the study exposed the fact that peace committees as organs for nurturing peace requires an environment that is equipped with relevant legal and policy framework, an active and more responsive coordination structure, as well as incentive systems that can support the volunteer nature of this work. In seeking to replicate the successes of Wajir

Peace and Development Committee, while borrowing lessons from other countries like

South Africa, Ethiopia and Nepal, it is the conviction of this study that local peace committees stand the best chance to facilitate a long lasting solution to the conflict issues of Kuria.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Noticeable conflict in Kuria is demonstrated by the growing number of causalities in the name of destroyed properties, maimed persons, shattered livelihoods and

deterioration of basic services amongst other issues. This has been ongoing for the past four decades, and post-election violence in 2007/2008 crowned it all, exposing other fragile areas in the country faced with similar conflict challenges. Although conflicts have been of different nature and in diverse parts of the country, the persistence of pastoralists’ animosities and violence calls for speedy and more strategic approach in diminishing the threats of social stability among the affected communities.

Kenya as a country lacks an adequate and responsive conflict handling structure hence tended to be reactionary and ad hoc in her approach to addressing animosities between different ethnic groups as well as intra-ethnic clans. Since 1992 when inter-ethnic conflict became conspicuous due to the viciousness displayed by warring parties in the Rift valley and Northern Kenya and there has been inconsistent efforts to stem out this menacing vice of violence. The reaction by the state has always been military operation in making an attempt to disarm people, yet this has not worked very well. Going back to operation Nyundo in 1973, Dumisha Amani I in 2006 which operated under the banner of

Okota I and Okota II, Dumisha II in 2010 and lastly the Kapedo operation in 2014, there seems to be very little positive response or outcome from these efforts.

This study asserts that conflicts do not occur because people have guns and light weapons, but are rather informed by the differences and inability to fulfil expectations, on the social, economic and political sphere. Therefore tending to prescribe disarmament programmes, as Kenya does, all the time there is a crisis is placing the cart before the horse and still anticipates forward movement. In this context there is need to develop a method or approach which aims at identifying root causes of the conflicts among Kenyans but

particularly the pastoralist communities. From the ongoing debate three distinct issues stand out; the inadequacy of the state interventions in bringing about peace in the affected regions of conflict; the failure by the state and non-state actors to discover the root causes of the conflicts in those regions; and the inability to implement the law even where the circumstances are favourable or strong enough.

Where peace committees have been tried (Adan and Pkyala, 2006) relative attempt has been made to reveal the root causes of the conflicts in the respective regions. Secondly, peace committees as Odendaal (2009) affirms have been fora for inclusiveness and participatory strategies in which most if not all stakeholders have been represented, thus spreading the risk of loss but arguably building a shared resource in the name of peace. It is the conviction of this study that peace committee in their structure and mode of operation, delivers the best chance for growing homemade solutions to the impending issues of Kuria.

Odhiambo (2012) recognizes the role played by peace committees in addressing conflicts, noting that most government or state led interventions lack a number of structures that only peace committees seem to flaunt. It has been observed that the state always tries to reduce violence by disarming people, and using grassroots’ structures like local administration offices to continue entrenching dialogue. While this is noble and commendable, there is no doubt that the system has failed to cultivate long lasting peace in most parts of the country. Based on this discovery, the study provides justification, as was observed in Agenda Item no 21 within the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Act

(2008), that peace committees are more effective in growing communities which address issues of conflict non-violently. This was the premise upon which a recommendation was

made that they (peace committees) be established in regions where they were not in existence before the post-election violence of 2007/2008.

Affording an explanation of inadequate pasture, land and water to the awful state of war in the Kuria region is shameful. Reading and affirming that culture is a factor too strong to be dealt with by the law is even more disgraceful. Imagining that the law can only be observed when the political temperatures are right is quite appalling. It is against these perturbing scenarios that this study offers peace committees as the most viable vehicles to terminate the cyclic violent conflicts that are driven by commercialized cattle trading, tolerated traditions of cattle raiding, dowry paying, hero awarding and disinheriting law enforcement agencies if one looks through the lenses of vigilante groups like Chinkororo,

Amachuma and Sungusungu.

Reading from the entrenched outcomes of the conflicts in Kuria (Boke, 2013) and the relative calm founded in the north part of Kenya (RECONCILE, 2012) it is the drive of this study that peace committees, will respond effectively to intra and inter-ethnic conflicts for many reasons but limited to the following; they are bodies that are present in the community, easily identifiable and accessible; they have rich history of regional and group (clan) differences and provide an inner perspective that an outsider may not be privy to; they create room for consistent dialogue, thus reducing the reactionary and foreign nature of state interventions; they easily undertake conflict reduction strategies through constant monitoring of tensions, while providing early opportunities for problem solving hence early warning. Peace committees are relevant if the legal and policy environment is right, but importantly when the political goodwill is guaranteed. As every Kenyan is

entitled to a life of dignity under Article 28, and further guaranteed state protection under

Article 29, the menace in Kuria must come to an end, and peace committees give Kenya a chance to grow peace among the Kuria and their neighbouring communities.

1.3 Research Objectives

The overall objective of this study is to examine the place of Peace Committees in the establishment of sustainable peace in Kuria Community of the Migori County, Kenya

Specifically the study sought to:

i. Establish the nature of conflicts within the Kuria Community of Migori County,

Kenya

ii. Evaluate the role played by Peace Committees in Conflict transformation

processes in Kuria Community of Migori County, Kenya

iii. Asses the challenges faced by Peace Committees in Kuria Community of

Migori County, Kenya

iv. Examine policy gaps and inadequacies that hinder peace building initiatives in

Kuria Community of Migori, Kenya

1.4 Research Questions

The study was guided by the following research questions:

i. What is the nature of conflict are prevalent in Kuria Commuity of Migori

County, Kenya?

ii. What role is played by peace committees amongst the Kuria Community in

conflict transformation processes Kuria Commuity of Migori County, Kenya?

iii. What challenges are faced by the peace committees in conflict transformation

process in Kuria Community in Migori County, Kenya?

iv. What are some of the gaps in policies guiding conflict transformation process

in Kuria Community of Migori County Kenya?

1.5 Justification of the Study

This section focuses on the rationale behind study. It submits to expose the policy relevance of the research in particular regard to peace building and conflict handling, specifically contextualizing issues that affect pastoralists’ communities in Kenya. It finds the nexus between crime and culture with a view to emphasize the urgency of growing a culture where the rule of law prevails. In this context endeavours to identify the available legal structures while exposing their inadequacies for the benefit of Kenyan conflicting communities. Finally it provides an opportunity to develop and grow knowledge in the conflict handling sector as way to finding sustainable peace. Particularly, it speaks of the policy prerogatives necessary for vibrant, comprehensive and responsive peace committees.

The experience of post-election violence of 2007/2008 is a waterloo in the history of Kenya. Communities butchered each other, as if the law of the land did not exist or was relegated to the abyss. Disputed presidential elections brought a new legal dispensation and a number of policies and laws were put in place including the Independent Elections and

Boundaries Commission Act, the Elections Act (2012) and many others. What was not given much attention that this study focuses on is the establishment of a viable legal regime

that needed to have provided conflict transformation and peace building mechanisms a foundation upon which state and non-state actors would have derived their mandate.

Reactionary tendencies by the state whenever violent conflicts arise are a demonstration that absence of reliable policy framework diminishes the effectiveness of interventions due to the strangeness in them. Most communities affected by conflict do not treat state interventions with seriousness of purpose, as the state mostly appears as a biased adjudicator. This study is advocating for the finalization of the National Policy on Peace

Building and Conflict Management of 2011 that still remains unattended to date. The proposed pillars in this draft policy would have gone a long way to incorporating local and mainstream approaches in growing peaceful Kuria community.

The study denotes that conflict issues among the Kuria has in it the presence of general insecurities, which squarely intimates matters of crime. The study attempts to state that cattle raid, under whichever name, for as long as there are victims, is a criminal offense.

This begs the study to interrogate what definitions are provided for cattle raiding in the penal code (Cap 63, Laws of Kenya), and does the law apply to members of pastoralist communities who abuse it? Deeper the study looks at the role of Law Enforcement

Agencies (LEAs) in regards to the conflict scenarios in the various regions in Kenya, and submits to assert that conflict management cannot be impacted by swift and successful disarmament programs, it must go further to identify the root causes of conflicts and in the same manner proffer sector specific mitigation. This directs the study to unravel the proliferation of vigilante groups in the name Chikororo, Amachuma, Sungusungu and

Itongo, whose presence is a constant reminder of a failed community policing process.

Marwa (2012) submits that crime plays a bigger role in entrenching cattle raids in

Kuria. This case can be compared to the situations experienced elsewhere, which on the flip side offers more insights on the rule of law. The study appreciates that security is not preserve of the state, but denotes that ordinary community members cannot be part of policing without the relevant policy environment. In this context, the study is an attempt to mobilize peace practitioners in persuading the government to put in place a national policy on community policing which currently stands as draft.

In terms of possible causes of the conflicts in the region, the study appreciates that

Kuria community has myriad issues to deal with. Of interest to the study is the fact that economic causes which are partly informed by the persistent practice of cattle raiding brings out the need to re-look at the authorities that deal with livestock trading in Kenya.

The study through the research undertaken by Kenya Human Rights Commission (2014) indicates that commercial livestock farming plays a big role in entrenching the behaviour of cattle rustling amongst the Kuria. Following this concern the study seeks to interrogate the policy framework regarding the regulation of livestock trading in Kenya and the regional market. The presence of players in the field of commercial cattle farming without a regulatory body makes most pastoralist communities vulnerable to raids. This study attempts to provide insight on the need to have an articulate policy framework to guide this trade which tends to jeopardize lives of many pastoralist communities.

Several scholars including Bujra (2004) and Kamenju (2003) assert that conflict in

Africa is products of many socio-economic and political factors which mostly impeded the wellbeing of a particular group of people. However, others like Binswagger (1999) looks

at conflict from the perspective of losers and winners, and this cannot be justified by any other dysfunction of the society apart from the benefits that come with power. The concept of looters and justice seekers is enveloped to qualify the objectives of the warring parties rather than look at the criteria for which deeply analyses cause of conflicts. This generalization is what this study seeks to take a divergent view and state that conflicts among the Kuria are not only a function of a failed social system in that community but fallen to the exigencies of a world whose quest for money reads no values nor morals.

There is recognition that state and non-state agencies have tried to address the conflict situation in Kuria. Looking at the interventions by the state as Kamenju (2003) mentions there is a gap in interpretation of what conflict resolution is all about. It has been observed that government agencies dating back 1973 during the operation “nyundo” disarmament process, to the recent Kapedo operation in October 2014, regard disarmament as step towards conflict management. These tendencies demonstrate the reactionary and ad hoc style of response from the state, which often yields very little positive outcome.

Therefore this is an opportunity for this study to generate knowledge that can be used to make disarmament programs in Kenya more meaningful to conflicting communities.

Cross border issues that affect pastoralist communities have been covered by most scholars including Amutabi (2010), Mulugeta (2008) and Odhiambo (2012) who have generated a lot of knowledge. What has not been explored extensively is the phenomenon of pastoralists’ communities that do not reside outside the northern part of Kenya. Although

Boke (2013) has spoken about this subject, his study sought to address retrogressive cultures and education in the region. It is within the precincts of such assumptions that

this study sought to interrogate the drivers of conflict among the Kuria, who apart from the

Masai exhibit a similar lifestyle with those from the North.

In addition to this scenario, the study explored the role played by vigilante groups or gangs in the context of Chinkororo, Amachuma, Itongo and Sungusungu. The question that the study was asking as demonstrated by Marwa (2012) is whether the absence of such gangs would have any impact on the conflict scenario particularly the intensity and ferocity of cattle raiding. Thus this study provides the practitioners of peace with a chance to identify and contextualize the role played by militias in the conflict among pastoralists.

Conflict handling mechanisms that are locally owned is an aspect that peace committees provide to the otherwise absent public in conflict transformation processes.

Although, Barakat (2005) glorifies the relevance of comprehensive peace building efforts, the views of Oxfam Novib (2012) emphasize that such interventions must be anchored on strong grassroots support pillars. This is so and would be relevant on the situation of the

Kuria, particularly because some of those pastoralist communities carry a lot of faith in their local conflict handling institutions like the council of elders. This study provides a discourse in the academia to generate strategies that can allow participation of youth, women and people living with disabilities who, previously were either ignored or never consulted.

Conflict transformation and peace building processes are very exorbitant exercises.

In their totality they require huge investments and these calls for establishment of strategic partnerships, from the technical to the financial aspect, where skill, human resources and money are intertwined. It is upon this background that urgency is created to ensure that the

Kuria community develops home grown solutions to their conflicts, just was demonstrated by the Wajir Peace and Development Committee in the 1990s. This study interrogates root causes of the conflicts in Kuria, in order to bring to an end “veiled causes” thus reducing possibility of misdirecting efforts. It is therefore an opportunity to collect and generate policy proposals and community perspectives on the status of safety and peace among the

Kuria, as stakeholder consultation stands out as a major area of learning.

Reda (2011) proffers that peace building mechanism can be limited depending on the circumstances of the conflict in place. In recognizing the limitations of finding a lasting solution in Ethiopia, Reda asserted that local assemblies functioned as indigenous courts whose rules emanate from shared norms and mutually binding value systems. The traditional institutions maintain symbiotic relations with modern administrative and legal machineries. The prevalence of complementary rather than competitive relations between the state and traditional system has contributed to the resilience and continued influence of the latter. Reading from Reda, this study provides an opportunity to identify and interrogate the alternative dispute resolution mechanism found amongst the Kuria community with view of finding the interphase between such indigenous methods and mainstream judicial processes to the suffocation of conflicts, without disregarding issues of human rights for those affected by conflicts.

1.6 Scope of the study

The overarching goal of the research was to examine the place of Peace Committees in the Conflict-Peace Building trajectory in Kenya, with a special focus on Kuria region of the Migori County. The study was carried out in Kuria East and Kuria West during the

months of June to September 2014. Apart from the objectives, the study sought also to identify the specific contributions made towards peace building and conflict by women, youth, elderly people and those living with disabilities

A range of research methodologies were used to investigate current conflict scenarios, practices of conflict handling and captured data about the scope and relative participation of ordinary community members in conflict transformation processes. The study reviewed literature giving insights on similar conflicts particularly those of the pastoralists’ communities in the states of Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Tanzania, as a scale upon which interventions would be tested and adopted.

A preliminary audit was carried out about the hard and soft infrastructure in the region through observatory audit form, in order to ascertain the state of development and how this was shaped by the conflict dynamics. Peace and conflict being concepts that elucidate very biased and sometimes personalized perceptions, called for the study to undertake personal interview with general respondents but specifically targeted for expert consultation in a way that corroborated information gathered from individuals. This was further tied up in focused groups’ discussions, as a deliberate, though rudimentary triangulation approach, to register consistency and objective constructiveness and subjective relevance.

As the project team acknowledged the existence of different stakeholders and the possibility of divergent perspectives within their institutions, which necessitated development of several and different survey instruments that were used to record the diverse responses, from community members including and not limited to, peace committee members, government officers, women, people living with disabilities and

members of the private securities the likes of Itongo, Amachuma and Chinkororo, as well as law enforcement agencies like national police service officers.

OPERATIONALIZATION OF KEY CONCEPTS

Community: Refers to a group of people living in the same village and organized around common values, culture, and traditions. Members of the community have a feeling of sharing things, situations, and belonging. This is the sense in which the term is used in this study.

Conflict: This concept will be used to refer to the armed struggle or clash between organized groups within Kuria in order to achieve limited political or community objectives.

Conflict Transformation: is the process by which conflicts are transformed into peaceful outcomes, where positions of the warring parties are reframed in order to reach a scenario that both find reasonable grounds to continue engaging harmoniously.

Peace Committees: These are locally constituted committees that are largely mandated by the community from where they reside to address issues of conflicts towards actualization of peace. They have a representation at national, County, Sub County, Location and Sub location levels and tasked with promoting peace in their localities.

Peace Building: This comprises of programs, policies and human interactions that aim to restore stability and the effectiveness of Social, Economic and political institutions and structures in the wake of violence, or any other catastrophic destabilizing event.

Amachuma, Chinkororo and Sungusungu: these are vigilante groups consisting of people who purport to provide security to community members in the region of Kuria and the larger Kisii.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Overview

This chapter sought to find out what other researchers have done in relation to the role of the state and civil society in post-conflict reconstruction, laying emphasis on the study objectives and the conceptual framework of this study.

2.1 Theoretical Review

This section looks at the conflict scenario and trends in Kenya, and reads experiences from other countries. Secondly it highlights the various dimensions of conflicts, conflict handling processes including transformation, peace and peace building within an environment that has a weak policy and legal regime. Further it describes the concept of peace committees, focusing on the opportunities and challenges that are encountered while delivering their work. However, it also highlights the importance of peace committees as a platform for inclusive participation in conflict handling even by the most marginalized.

2.1.1 General Perspective of Conflicts Bujra (2004) decries the inadequacy caused by misrepresentation(s) or misplacement(s) of conflict in Africa, noting that the consequences for such misfired definitions have also led to interventions whose inappropriateness can be observed from the results: continued struggles. Bujra goes further to state that many scholars have used different ways and methods to categorize conflicts depending on the prevailing

circumstances inspiring the clash or misunderstanding. Picking classification by

Binswanger (1999) and Ball (1998) that speaks of loot seekers and justice seekers, Bujra demonstrates that conflict is such a dicey discussion that sometimes it takes the value judgment which largely considers objectives of the warring parties, rather than any analytical criteria.

Salim (1999) has classified conflicts in ways that look at the objectives, or the circumstances which sustain the clash. Prominently Salim speaks of; a) boundary and territorial conflicts; b) civil wars and internal conflicts having international repercussions; c) succession conflicts in decolonized territories; d) political ideological conflicts and e) those that are related to transhumance and irredentism. Although Salim has contextualized what value judgment may be in a situation of conflict, his assertion has added to the concerns that definitions are quite important to the prescribed interventions.

Adedeji (1999) notes that key to this discussion is the time allocated to conflict or violence and the scale or magnitude of the same in the eyes of analysts thus bringing in another angle to categorization of conflict. Urban violence which tends to be shorter and intermittent can morph out as religious, ethnic or class outfit struggling to undo what is considered as unjust. Urban violence manifests as groups attacking government property or installations, shops, houses of the “rich, middle class or those considered affluent, which is an expression of discontent. At another level looking at magnitude can account for political conflicts such as wars between states, armed rebellion against state. The concern here is the prescription(s) given either in a preventive or reduction mode towards violence

or conflict whenever peace building schemes are developed; if at all definitions are misrepresented.

Bujra (2004) looks at conflict from the perspective of the actors involved and this makes just two categories which include; i) inter-state conflicts that have been motivated by many factors but conspicuously; a) the imprecision of many borders; b) the straddling by large ethnic groups considered strategic by one side of the border; c) borders that passed through strategic terrain desired by countries juxtaposed to each other; and d) other borders that passed in mineral rich areas all of which fell on one side of the divide thus excluding one country. (i) Internal conflicts, which Bujra notes as extensively present in Africa, and can be divided in to two major groups that are; conflicts in which the state is a party to the conflict; these are therefore politically driven or instigated conflicts, and (ii) conflicts between groups within the country and which the state is not a party to. In the realm of these two classes under the internal conflict many smaller types exist namely secessionist rebellion, rebellion to overthrow government, coup d E’tat, cold-war sustained conflicts, many sided conflicts to seize state power, urban violence and conflict as well as rural conflicts over resources.

Delving deeper in to matters of rural conflicts which is an interest of this study,

Bujra asserts that competition for grazing land and constricted access to water points makes such conflicts huge enough to suck in a whole ethnic group, as most of the differences revolve on issues of livelihood, where there is high cultural value on community assets.

But this does not mean that the struggles must be inter-ethnic, they could also be intra-

ethnic where conflicts can occur between peasant farmers over such asset(s) considered communal (ibid).

Following in the thoughts of Bujra is Kamenju (2003) who states that the intra- ethnic phenomenon can best be demonstrated by the Karamajong of Uganda and Pokot of

Kenya who live on either side of the borders fighting over grazing land. While there is a general understanding of rural conflicts, and whether they turn ethnic or not, the commonness in approach and execution of such struggles is mostly found among pastoralist communities.

Lund (2007) denotes that most of these rural conflicts over land and cattle have been going on over a long period of time with very little attention given to them, sometimes remaining unnoticed, hence unreported, not unless large-scale killing and injuries takes place, where the state intervenes militarily. Although these conflicts go back a long way, in some cases to the pre-colonial period the approach towards solutions have been a script of military engagement. It is only recently Lund notes that major changes have been introduced in the countries’ economies such as changes over land laws which often contradict customary laws, confiscation of large tracts of land for ranching and large-scale farming, and increase in population.

Deng (1996) makes note of the rise in rural inequalities – between rich and poor/landless farmers, between rich ranchers and poor cattle owners. These changes have led to a considerable competition for the scarce resources of land (cultivable and grazing, including water). Furthermore, environmental deterioration in land productivity and scarcity of water has contributed to the intensity of the competition. Amongst pastoral

societies in particular, the system of grazing which involves movement of large cattle herds to water points and in search of pasture, has created a serious problem. Private ownership of land has restricted these necessary movements of pastoralist and the impact has been serious and catastrophic on pastoralist societies.

Kanyangolo (2006) notes the growing phenomenon which has added the intensity and frequency of conflicts amongst cattle grazing people that at times have led to serious rebel movements. These movements have ended up raiding the pastoralists for cattle in order to sell them for arms or for food. The pastoralists in their turn had to acquire arms to defend themselves. Another phenomenon is the highly organized and extensive cattle stealing from one pastoralist group by another (often led by outsiders), with automatic weapons often being used. This is because cattle have acquired considerable value because of the great demand for meat in the urban areas and also for export purposes. This is particularly the case in the Horn of Africa and in East Africa.

Fleisher (2000) considers the conflicts among the Kuria as a component of the manifestations as described by Deng (1996). Key to this assertion is the fact that scarce or inadequate resources within a rural community which adores some of their cultural undertakings provide a plausible reason for communities to enter in to a competition mode, where only the strong survive the harsh vagaries of constant clashes. Kuria being a pastoralist community and having a history of violence, either out of the necessity to protect self from aggressive neighbours or owing to the ever increasing demand for growing livestock farming, in the absence of any diversified economic engagement, the community is left to employ the hostile principles that separate the stronger from the weaker.

The case of the Kuria trying to keep off groups like Masai, Kisii and Luo has the conflict simmering all the time partly because of criminal activities within the region. As

Marwa (2002) explains, the failure by the government to institute sustainable crime prevention and reduction measures in the region of Migori County, has led to the proliferation of vigilante groups in the name of Chinkororo, Sungusungu and Amachuma.

These groups emerge as the alternative voice of reason, filling a void left behind by the lethargy of the state law enforcement machinery, but lack the capacity for self-maintenance among them introduces unsustainable actions eventually leading to development of unscrupulous methods of survival. In this context, these groups then turn to criminal activities in creating fear and disorder among local communities in order to fund their enterprise, which is fleecing people for services rendered as security.

This thesis underscores all the discussions and perspectives given by different scholars regarding conflict amongst the pastoralist communities. While studies have tended to generalize water, pasture and land as the most crucial items upon which conflicts are derived, this research thinks otherwise. This study asserts that by generalizing causes of conflicts many interventions have been generic and lack specific mitigations. Looking at the land question in Kenya and particularly the fact that land among pastoralist is held communally or in trust, the study portends to expose the intricacies of nomadism, land ownership, cross border dynamics and livestock trading. This study regards the Kuria case as classic manifestation of the land issues in Kenya. This school of thought is shared by

Amutabi (2010) who asserts that pastoralist communities are a component of the bigger picture of resources which attract both regional and international interests, as demonstrated by the conflict dynamics occasioned in the Ilemi triangle.

Following the aforementioned observation, this thesis notes that sometimes issues which cause conflicts originate from struggle of powerful actors who seek to maintain bad situations in order to reap benefits that can only be sustained by strained relationships between different communities as has been the cases supported by the war economy of the central parts of Africa. Leff (2009) expands this script by asserting that elite members of the pastoralist communities facilitate the acquisition and sustenance of conflict scenarios in order to ensure that trading in livestock and related products thrive. Therefore, they have taken it upon themselves to purchase high powered weaponry which has made the conflict more sophisticated and attractive.

Leff’s ideas read from the works of Binswagger (1999) who provides a dichotomous perspective of conflict, as those who seek loot versus the ones who submit to seeking justice. Leff contextualizes this conflict economy by stating that during the period between 2003 and 2008, over 3000 livestock has been lost between the Turkana of Kenya and the Toposa of Southern Sudan. These herds of livestock are estimated at US $ six hundred thousand (US$ 600,000), and it is important that interventions consider the bigger picture of trading in livestock rather than looking at this an issue practiced by a particular ethnic group.

2.1.2 Overview of Conflicts in Kenya Oyugi (2000) suggests that the conflict continuum in Kenya can be categorized as geographical, thematic or ethnic; all the three have similarities and points of convergence more than divergences. In looking at thematic perspectives Oyugi asserts that this could mean land, elections, resources as well as opportunities While speaking about ethnicity, this could imply the identity issues which originate from allegiances grown or developed 33

after considerable time of social structures that nurture cultural pillars upon which relationships are rested, and lastly the geographical simply responds to the boundary issues.

Based on this discussion, some other scholars particularly, Mwakikagile (2010) concludes that there is no conflict in Kenya that is not thematic, and the themes mostly revolve on the formula or lack of it in sharing of resources.

Muhula (2009) examines the conflicts in Kenya from a perspective of inequalities that are horizontally ingrained in all the three states of human functionalism that is economic, social and political. Muhula argues that this explains why the post-election violence in 2007/2008 caught most people by surprise, as the extreme focus on ethnicity had made scholars and conflict handling experts miss the mark of identifying real issues confronting the different Kenyan communities. Muhula noted that ethnic and regional violence in Kenya after the controversial 2007 Presidential elections demonstrated the fluidity of ethno-regional cohesion, hence exposing the depth of historical grievances, but significantly polarized the country along ethno-regional lines. At the core of these grievances is the belief that political power provides the ethnic group of the President with exclusive advantages over resources, opportunities and wealth creation facilities amongst others.

On the basis of the above discussions by Muhula (2009) and Oyugi (2000),

Marshall (2011) puts Kenya in to focus noting that experiences from various conflicts particularly in the Rift Valley, the Northern part of the country and the Mount Elgon demonstrate he fragility of the Kenyan state in terms of conflict handling. Contrary to the assertion by the aforementioned authorities including Muhula, Oyugi and Marshall, this

study argues that this cyclic state of conflicts is a recognition of the passivity of the policy and legal regime, which has left most conflicts unattended since the 1992 Rift valley inter- ethnic flare ups. The study attributes this passivity and blatant exploitation of a weak legal system to the growth of ethnic conflicts that now straddle the latitude of this country from

Mount Elgon to Lamu, Likoni to Kuria and many others. It is noted by this study had the rule of law been applied consistently then violence would have not grown to the magnitude it has today, if the issue of Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), the Kapedo in 2013 and

Bargoi clashes in 2014.

Muhula (2009) further suggest that conflicts in Kenya represent the persistent and pervasive nature of inter-group and international competition among desperate interests and values that underlies power dynamics. This, Muhula attributes to four major factors which describe inequalities: ethno-regional political patronage; dominance of the Kenyan state; colonial legacy; and historical grievances and inter-ethnic rivalries. However,

Marshall (2011) confers that save for the ad hoc and reactive style of handling conflicts in

Kenya the situation would have been different, as the lack of interest in persistent community animosities by the state contributed to the intractability of conflicts in the country. It is upon such concerns that the NSC in 2002 changed tact and adopted a more comprehensive and integrative approach to facilitating the conflict handling in Kenya. Key to this approach was the deliberate partnerships and consultations between state and non- state actors and the fusing of insecurity specific programmes in peace building interventions as a major pillar to sustainable peace.

Markussen (2011) credits NSC as from early 2000 with consistent development of peace building structures in the Kenyan development agenda, with a view to widen approaches and increase the interaction space of those affected by conflicts, which was deviation from the past when government would always chose to undertake a forced disarmament program, even without consultation. The presence and vibrancy of NSC in

2003saw the NSC being given mandate to manage the Kenya’s Conflict Early Warning and Response Unit (CEWERU) in line with the protocol Establishing the Conflict Early

Warning and Response Mechanism for IGAD Countries. Therefore, NSC role has both internal dynamics where it has spearheaded the formation of local peace committees, while regionally it represents Kenya at the IGAD on matters of management of conflicts.

According to ACLED report (2013) Kenya’s conflict profile is relatively evenly split between types of violence including battles, violence against civilians, and rioting or protesting. National level trends mask dramatic regional variations in the types, tactics and perpetrators of political violence within Kenya, where Nairobi experiences the second highest absolute levels of violence in country and closely followed by the Rift Valley, and the highest levels of riots and protests. Nairobi is also the region in which violent events involving state forces are highest, with almost one-third of all violent events involving state forces taking place in the capital. Sub-national and temporal patterns in violence are often simplified by misleading narratives about conflict in Kenya being dominated by electoral violence. Electoral cycles coincide with some conflict peaks, but as this report will detail,

Kenya experiences multiple, overlapping conflicts, which profoundly shape the nature of conflict and vulnerability of civilian populations in particular to violence.

Denoting some of the conflicts that have stood out prominently which make Kenya the seventh most violent state in the ACLED data base, NPI (2013) identifies the following; in 1992, 5000 people were killed and another 75,000 displaced in the Rift Valley Province, with the town of Molo being an epicenter of the violence. The conflict was primarily between the Kalenjin and Kikuyu communities with Land ownership cited as one of key reasons for the conflict. In 2005 communities around Mount Elgon in the western part of the country witnessed insurgency by the Saboat Land Defense Force which left thousand displaced hundreds of deaths. While at the coast particularly the area of Likoni and Kwale

(ukunda), the famous Kayabombo and Mlungunipa conflicts were experienced that emanated from perceptions of discrimination and skewed access to opportunities in all the two major sectors, economic, political and social, as well as exclusion in distribution and allocation of high end resources where land still remains a bone of contention.

NPI (2013) further mentions that conflicts in the Northern part of the country including the Orma and Pokomo have continued and the results have been on since the

1970s and continue unabated. The struggles for pasture and water, including uncertainty of accessing land for settlement ravages the communities through incessant conflicts and clashes. In 2012-2013, there was ethnic violence among the Orma and Pokomo groups along the Tana River district who have fought, historically over farm land, grazing grounds and water. This can also be connected to the 2012 clashes in Samburu that witnessed the death of many people but noticeable was the demise of police officers in the Suguta Valley.

Records at the ACLED (2013) data base indicate that Kenya since 1997 up to 2013

September has had over 3,500 politically violent events between 1997 and September

2013. Kenya has the 12th highest rate of reported fatalities associated with political violence, at over 7,200. Levels of violent events peaked at 341 in the three-month period of January to March 2008, the quarter which also experienced the highest level of reported conflict fatalities (In absolute terms, levels of conflict in Kenya since 1997 are comparable to those in Uganda (3,825 events) and South Africa (3,263 events), although the composition of this violence by type is markedly different. Unlike Uganda, Kenya has not experienced an outright civil war during this period, but data analysis reveals that the use of categories such as ‘low grade violence,’ ‘communal conflict’ or ‘electoral violence’ can obscure the absolute levels of conflict experienced by communities across the country.

On the strength of the levels of violence in the country, particularly the ethnic related animosities that have displayed by several communities over resources, Markussen observes it was prudent to adapt to the efficacy of the Peace committees, whose model reads from the successes of the Wajir Peace and Development Committee. This context looks at peace committees as structures which borrows heavily from the traditional ethnically acceptable means of sorting out conflicts, and thus provides this study with an opportunity to generate practicable and grafted strategies to address cyclic conflicts in

Kenya.

The trajectory of conflicts in Kenya does indicate that communities are in constant struggle of asserting supremacy either politically, socially or economically. There is evidence as affirmed by Muhula (2009) that some of these tendencies emanate from colonial heritage, and the perception of scarce resources for a growing population of many poor against the few considered wealthy. However, it is not lost to the researcher that

unresolved conflicts in Kenya over time have created a need for healing and reconciliation, processes that were recommended by the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission

(TJRC) in their final report. The reluctance by the state to adopt and implement the TJRC report demonstrates the lack of political goodwill amongst the ruling class thus entrenching practices which have far reaching repercussions on the future community relationships, when this study factors in impunity. It is important to understand Kenya’s conflict profile in order that interventions are not only informed but interrogate the root causes of the conflicts particularly development of mitigation schemes which include local community participation.

This school of thought as supported by Markussen (2011) offers a platform on which peace committees find relevance in mobilizing communities in to objective participants while facilitating dialogue which does not ignore subjective tendencies of community interests but accommodates expectations equitably in a manner that allows for consensus decision making. There have been allegations that Kenya’s response to conflicts is reactionary and ad hoc. This may be true if the presence of conflict focused institution were to be assessed. Looking at the institutions like National Cohesion and Integration

Commission (NCIC), the National Steering Committee on Peace Building and the now defunct TJRC, one cannot dismiss the fact that they were all established upon realization that Kenyan communities have for some time and reasons attacked each other so ferociously. The question therefore is of what significance are such institutions if they remain reactionary or if their hands are tied within a political environment devoid of choices. When alternative processes of dining solutions pit one against the state, as this study asserts, then all the other processes which have no blessing from the government,

become redundant as the state is the only institution with resources to implement a national wide peace building process.

The conflict scenario among the Kuria has similarities with the few clashes fought at the coast (1997, 2003 and 2009), upper North (since 1970s to date) and the Rift Valley

(1992, 1997, 2007/8). They are all resource based, indicative of communities protesting injustices and struggles of “scarce land, water and pasture.” The incidents in Baringo county (where 21 police officers lost their lives) lay bare the unpreparedness of Kenya as a country on matters of conflict handling, qualifying as the most reactive. It is against this background that Peace Committees become a model for addressing negative tensions, violence and conflicts among communities across the country.

Smock (2009) emphasizes the role of peace committees to provide leadership in finding sustainable solutions by way of facilitating dialogue and reconciliation among the communities. Over the years, SCPCSs have collaborated with other partners and created linkages with civil society organizations to support SCPCs through facilitation of community dialogue, establishment of new SCPCs, development of standard guidelines and terms of reference (TORs) for peace structures in Kenya and documentation of peace processes, among other initiatives. Even though the peace communities are anchored on government structures, a lot of emphasis is on ensuring that their processes are community owned and driven with view to ensure sustainability.

2.1.3 The Concept of Conflict Transformation Conflict transformation drives change in society. According to Deng (1996) countries and communities that manage conflict will achieve change faster and with better

results. In a real situation conflict is a continuum that begins with competing interest of different people, families, ethnic communities, or nations and escalates to a full blown dispute. Conflict transformation has to cope with the harsher realities of change. It enables people and communities to coexist in society. Over the years conflicts have been common phenomena due to a variety of factors including ethnic, religious or political divisions; weak governments; large populations of unemployed and unengaged youths and depressed or declining economic opportunities (Smock, 1999).

Lederach (1995) and other theorists argue that contemporary conflicts require more than reframing of positions and identification of win-win outcomes. In this context, they propose conflict transformation as the level within a conflict where relationships, interests, discourse and if possible the very constitution of the society is transformed in devaluing support and continuation of violence or conflicts. In Lederach’s words

“Conflict transformation must actively envision, include, respect, and promote the human and cultural resources from within a given setting. This involves a new set of lenses through which we do not primarily ‚see ‘the setting and the people in it as the ‚problem’ and the outsider as the ‚answer‘. Rather, we understand the long- term goal of transformation as validating and building on people and resources within the setting (Lederach, 1995, p 20)”

This line of thinking was contextualized by Galtung (1996) who seemed to suggest that conflicts have both life-affirming and life-destroying aspects, essentially forming from contradictions in the structure of society. They then become manifest in attitudes and behaviour. Once formed, conflicts undergo a variety of transformational processes:

articulation or dis-articulation, conscientisation or de-conscientisation, complexification or simplification, polarization or depolarization, escalation or de-escalation. The incompatibility which arises between parties may be eliminated by transcending the contradiction, by compromise, by deepening or widening the conflict structure, and by associating or dissociating the actors. Galtung. As supported by Bloomfield (1997) emphasize the change in relationships between conflicts and larger conflicts embedded in the structure of world society and the world economy.

Interrogating the idea of Galtung further was Joongman’s (2000) observation that conflict transformation is the process which recognizes factors that exacerbate conflicts and restrain conflicts over a number of different phases. The purpose for such recognition is to extend the application of transformation by emphasizing the inclusion of the context within which conflict takes place or where it is domiciled. This adds value to the focus put on parties, issues and goals as it reveals self-fueling characteristics like markets and culture of violence amongst others. It is therefore important that conflict transformation prioritizes the model of moving from theory of conflict to theory of conflict-in-context.

This concept of conflict-in-context keeps tab on three very important aspects that include; a) context transformations, which literally refers to the context of a conflict that may radically alter each warring party’s perception of the conflict situation, as well as their motives. This was best demonstrated by the impact of the cold war on regional conflicts, by the proposal that a World Diamond Council would be established, thus changed the scenario of the conflict radically; b) actor transformation(s) which literally entail decisions on the part of the actors to change their goals or later their general approach to conflict,

contextualized as resolutions to seek peace or initiate a peace process and change in leadership amongst others; and c) Issues transformation(s), which involves reformulation of positions that parties take on key issues at the heart of the conflict, and also the way in which parties redefine or reframe positions in order to reach compromises or create resolutions.

Barakat (2005) reading this emerging trend globally observes that Kenya has made concerted and coordinated efforts to address peace and security issues such as terrorism.

Kenya has established initiatives that seek to address conflict both domestically and regionally. In the past, the approach to handling conflict was reactive and crisis driven.

These included for example, the deployment of state security forces to ‘contain’ conflict situations and the channeling of conflicts through the formal state sponsored justice system.

More recently, proactive measures are being undertaken such as the establishment of

CEWERU, the NSC on Conflict

Gootnick (2005) argues that in the face of conflict, initiatives are developed to promote peaceful civic engagement for conflict transformation. These include justices of the peace, networks of community mediators, equity conciliators and peace committees.

This is because peace committees use both traditional and modern conflict management mechanisms to prevent, manage or transform intra-ethnic or interethnic conflicts. In successful implementation, peace committees are instrumental in conflict management, peace-building efforts, and are credited for reducing tension and improving the intercommunity relations. Additionally, in conflict-affected areas, peace committees have

an impact on local communities by solving community problems and empowering local actors to become peace builders.

Kriesberg (1998) differs with proponents of conflict management who assert that at times conflicts or violence are ineradicable consequence of differences of values and interests within and between communities. In fact Kriesberg goes further to state that by allowing resumption of normal politics in a conflict scenario as promoted by other scholars, a state of passivity would have been established, creating a structurally or culturally acceptable obstacle to transformation. In conclusion Kriesberg proffers that transformation must not just contend with people living together, in the absence of physically observable struggle but with generation of new points of interaction that can supersede or outclass the previous state of animosity.

Globally, conflict transformation in society is one of the primary and enduring responsibilities of all governments and, therefore, one of the pre-eminent areas in which the UN can serve its member states. One aspect of the increasing United Nations system- wide priority given to conflict management and transformation is the strengthening of the governance capacities of States to manage and regulate conflicts in constructive and non- violent ways (Scott, 2008).

As such, several capacity-building projects are being undertaken to impart awareness and skills to peace committees, government officials and civil societies to assist them to anticipate and respond to crises, to work effectively in conflict-prone environments and to increase their ability to defuse tension and address the inequalities that may lead to violence. Empowering peace committees stands out as the foundation of an effective

infrastructure for conflict management from local, national to international level. It is often at local level that tensions can be contained before they become violent or that the dynamics of conflict can be channelled in a way that begins the process of transformation.

In Nicaragua, peace committees made possible many local agreements. They have been particularly successful in engaging contra guerrillas who re-armed after the ceasefire agreement, promoting conflict management and easing their re-integration into society at a time when all other attempts to deal with them had failed (Barakat, 2005).

Oxfam Novib (2012) Conflict transformation is looking at the bigger picture that focuses on people centered change to address conflicts. This is done by interrogating the driving factors and needs of citizens in order to respond to the direct, structural and cultural aspects that comprise the violence. Therefore addressing oppressive dynamics and analyzing the key players at the local, national and global levels towards empowering people for positive change remains vital aspect of transformation. Oxfam lays emphasis on the fact that all these matters as proposed must be executed by the Human Rights Approach, which takes in to account dimensions of the vulnerable, marginalized and gender.

Oxfam Novib further adds value to the discussion of conflict transformation by identifying the necessary factors, which must be present for successful completion. The factors have been grouped in to two areas including; a process of conflict analysis that brings the comprehensive appreciation of what the conflict entails, particularly focusing on; the identification and prioritization of the key driving factors of the conflict; identification of the stakeholders and other actors within the conflict; analyzing the nature of the conflict and the relationships the conflict holds with other sectors of the society;

identification of the strategic entry points for the conflict handling strategy to work based on the analysis; the knowledge of previous successes and failures of previous efforts for peace and also have an inkling on the regional dimensions o the conflict.

Further Oxfam Novib proffers that it is important to draw up a Theory of Change

(ToC) which is model or tool that explains different strategies and interventions that can bring about change. This tool describes different outcomes that contribute to the long terms goals. In realizing the theory of change, the conflict handlers must develop objectives, overriding goals, activities that are supportive of the intentions set forth in the theory. This helps in the monitoring and adjustment programs within the execution of transformation, providing for alternatives in the event that planned outcomes are not realized (Ibid)

This study looks at the totality of conflict transformation process and compares it with the scenario in the Kuria region, and asserts that contrary to generic mitigations including disarmament and direct county administration dialogue, there are grounds to emphasize the need to develop conflict transformation mechanisms which provide an opportunity to inclusive participation, hence enhancing ownership. In this light the peace committees become the platform that brings together people of different stations of life to discuss and attain a more representative solution to their problems. Gootnick (2005) and

Barakat (2005) directly support the importance of inclusivity in the process of conflict transformation. By stating the urgency for adopting to a long term strategy where details and expectations of different players are addressed, there is no any other qualification which can make a Theory of Change more relevant than the overriding goal of a peaceful society where all the people have equal rights and access to justice, resources and services.

2.2 The Concept of Peace and Relevance to the Study United Nations (2000) defines peace as the collectiveness of maintaining harmony in a society where conflict handling has recognized the need to renew relationships that are either broken or extremely strained to the extent of losing the acceptable modes of civic engagement between and across people. Peace is the change that people seek in order to create orderliness enhancing appreciation for humanity. Peace in this study has been looked at as a dichotomous concept where in one dimension it is a tool (avenue) that inspires transformation of conflict, while on the other it is a consequence of the same action

(conflict transformation). However, between these two concepts peace and conflict, there must exist an institution or a people who are a medium that creates harmony.

United Nations (2005) looks at peace not just as an end in itself but also as a foundation for prosperity and development. This is not to say that definitions or perspectives provided by other scholars have no bearing on this viewpoint. In fact, the minimalist idealists consider peace as the absence of violence or a recurrence of overt conflict within a few years, popularly referred to as negative peace. In this context or line of thinking, the legal structures or interventions tend to support activities related to disarmament, demobilization and promote reintegration as just as a means to deter violence recurring after a given, though not defined, period of time.

On the other hand positive peace is discussed on the same premise that seeks to entrench good practice in order to reconstitute relationships between warring groups, and specifically this entails; a) undertaking recovery from war or violence such as rebuilding of infrastructure as well as the social fabric through reconciliation among other things; b) addressing root causes of conflict, such as inequalities, discrimination, poverty and

structural insecurity; c) reducing conflict opportunities and d) creating peace-supportive and sustaining structures and firmly establishing the foundation for economic growth and development.

Erickson (2012) avows that peace is the presence of economic, social, cultural and political factors that not only enhance the betterment of human affairs, but those that increasingly reduce the physical disparities between different groups of people. In looking at the Republic of Tanzania, Erickson asserts that exclusionary national ideologies, economic difficulties and intra-group rivalries and competition are a recipe for protracted conflict. In fact Erikson contextualizes this by stating that racial tensions and diversity that have a bearing on high unemployment and poverty among the youth coupled with the presence of a “malicious political entrepreneur,” as well as insecurity does increase the application of peace as an action that advances prosperity and development.

In retrospect, the assertions by the United Nations (2005) and Erikson (2012) recall the work of Galtung (1960) who faithfully advocated for a dichotomy of approach, by insisting that negative peace which is demonstrated by the drifting away from violence on the one hand, while on the other, positive peace being “the integration of human society.”

In conclusion Galtung believed that these two types of peace must be conceived as two separate ideologies and be understood as concepts which can exist independently of each other.

McCandless (2012) dismisses the effectiveness of negative peace, as an approach that limits the participation of nations and groups in addressing fundamental attributes that make up peace. In fact, McCandless reasserts the view by Galtung that negative peace is where the world is dominated by one nation or a United Nations who are equipped with

coercive power and readiness to use it, which may be used to bring about integration

(positive peace).

Although there are policies to support the relevance of negative peace approaches, which include and are not limited to arms control, international conventions (Geneva

Conventions) and balance of power strategies amongst others, it is considered blind to relevant human factors like attitude, key to relationship building. McCandless, without making the approach of negative peace look obsolete, re-affirms the urgency to propagate some policies that advance positive peace which comprise of those that improve human understanding through communication, peace education, international cooperation, dispute resolution, arbitration, conflict management and so on.

Obidegwu (2005) seeks to promote the school of thought founded by Thompson who once said “peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of creative alternative for responding to conflicts; alternative to passive or aggressive responses; alternative to violence.” This picture reads from Galtung (1960) who sought to move away from actor oriented explanation of peace and violence asserting that structural weaknesses account for the existence of violence in its widest spectrum, where it is defined as the state by which human beings are influenced so that their actual somatic and mental realizations are below their potential realization.

Structural violence as Obidegwu avers, stems from violence in the structure of society, rather than the actor-generated personal and direct violence. Further, structural violence is seen as the cultural aspect that can be employed to justify and legitimize direct and cultural violence. To understand the direct-structural and cultural violence triangle, he employs the concept of power and identified four dimensions of power impacting positive

and negative peace: cultural, economic, military and political. Galtung (1960) believes that the vicious spiral of violence can be broken with the virtuous spiral of peace flowing from cultural peace through structural peace to direct peace.

Peace is conceptualized as an origin (tool) and an outcome in accordance with the ongoing discussion(s). This context does interrogate the relevance of such perspectives on peace to the study. The significance finds resonance at three levels with this study; a) the definition of peace in its totality looking at negative and positive peace fits well in the

Kenyans scenario, where reduced levels of violence, the absence or the lack of it has always passed for peace, which I submit as misplaced; b) where conflict has been considered as an outpost of ethnicity rather than a configuration of failed economic, political and social systems in the society, which I consider myopic and c) where initiatives of peace building have been isolative in approach and execution thus finding difficulty on matters of sustainability.

It must be understood that peace building is tool whose application calls for ownership of those affected by a conflict, and therefore requires that community participation remains a key component of the peace building process. Secondly, peace is outcome of synergetic efforts to create a balance in economic structures (those that serve people non-discriminately), social interactions and political interventions to the establishment of practical menial relationships between people and public institutions.

Reading from the United Nations (2000) and (2005), there is emphasis placed on the fact that harmony is nurtured by parties sharing a state or region, which may also include resources. In this context, the study revisits the Galtung’s assertion of negative peace and affirms that, the Kenyan scenario when looking at Kuria requires the presence

of a strong unilateral power station, or institution that can coerce some communities in to a state of cooperation. In reference to this assertion the researcher is of the opinion that reduction in levels and modes of violence through processes like disarmament, does not address root causes of conflicts. Thus necessitating the need to design and execute accompanying programs that can remove communities from recurrent conflicts, through development of new and more meaningful areas of engagement.

2.2.1 Peace and Economic Prosperity

Maathai (1995) travels this study to the excess of African leadership that has not only denied its people economic progress but have shut out the space for their contribution.

By minimizing the window of engagement between different classes of people in the

African society the political leadership has allowed for the continued domination of many by a few who possess enormous economic power over the many with little room to thrive.

This situation, Maathai asserts, promotes and grows the existence of poverty in its simplest form (lack) and the wealth (abundance) in its widest application, which defines the interaction space between two groups whose expectations cannot be reconciled. In this context, therefore, peace acts not just as a tool of establishing structures which generate economic opportunities serving the purpose of reconciling different communities but as a consequence of adjudging such prospects optimally between different groups of people.

Mshana (2009) demonstrates the irrelevance of pegging peace to matters of prosperity by alleging that this is a concept whose purpose is not the distribution of wealth across populations, but the enrichment of few towards hegemonic tendencies of

Multinational companies and very powerful states. Mshana is not cross about the freedom

“people experience” in accessing liberalized markets but the possibility to attract the right return on the produce or services one shares with the larger world in such arrangements.

Therefore, if wealth creation is a strategy to generate a culture of peace, the world has failed by the inadequacies of economic structures blind to the human realities or needs found in communities. Needless to say that presence of an extremely powerful institution or individual has the capacity of executing undemocratic ways and entrench their form of rule and influence in a manner that undermines the fundamental balance of peace in any given society. Essentially Mshana decries that economic progress or wealth creation which facilitates the constriction of people’s rights and opportunities does not just reduce the art of humanity, it actually plants and fans discord across the society.

Economic prosperity is a human impression that aims at fulfilling basic needs in any given society and is best emphasized by the lenses worn by US president Barrack

Obama who stated thus;

“So we face an historic opportunity. We have embraced the chance to show that America values the dignity of the street vendor in Tunisia more than the raw power of the dictator. There must be no doubt that the United States of America welcomes change that advances self-determination and opportunity. Yes, there will be perils that accompany this moment of promise. But after decades of accepting the world as it is in the region, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be.” (US White House, Press release, May 19th 2011)

This assertion helps this study to appreciate the fact that social justice enshrined in wealth creation schemes, whether local, regional or international must be able to reduce both the ecological gap as well as inequalities between the rich and poor.

The researcher agrees wholly with position taken by Barak Obama, the President of the United States of America since 2008, as quoted above, that wealth creation is not a 52

naked concept, it must be accompanied with relevant structures which support social justice. In this context, the researcher differs with Maathai (1995) and Mshana (2009) who presuppose that if a person is given wealth without an avenue of other fundamental principles which govern acceptable human interactions, their outlook and interpretation of social justice shall not be skewed to protect his own interests at the expense of many.

2..2.2 Peace and Legal Expectations

Sound legal instruments that propagate peace may include; a) the rule of law; b) the safety and security of a people in a given state; and c) protection of human rights. These three aspects as asserted by African Union (AU, 2013) provide a platform to promote justice and reconciliation which are key elements of peace. This can be found in constitutional structures, international laws and treaties, as well as regional collaborations emphasizing respect for human rights and dignity that acknowledge political and economic inclusiveness as the first and most important line of defense against abuse of power. In this context, peace is represented as a tool that must be sharpened to bring about order, of communities working and living together harmoniously.

On the other hand, Holmer (2013) proclaims that law can also be a consequence of lost opportunities in the harmonious relationships between groups, or institutions, and therefore the need to develop a guided relationship map, which defines areas of allowed or forbidden interaction between different people or communities. Wearing these lenses and factoring on terrorism, Holmer maintains that violent extremism is a driver of conflict, and violent extremists are spoilers of peace building efforts. Therefore, owing to the difficulty to walk through the maze of uncertainty, there continues an urge to grow and develop legal 53

and policy regime which aims at preventing threats to peace, but similarly reduce the impact of such breach whenever conflict or dissonance occurs.

Steinburg (2006) gives this study insight(s) in to the meaning of law being instrumental in driving the agenda of peace in any specific society. In rounding the needs that Burundi required back then in order to grow out of conflict, Steinburg insisted that massive human rights abuses of 1973 and 1993 had to be addressed, and without negating the importance of forgiveness, build a permanent foundation of the rule of law and accountability. This would have manifested as truth and reconciliation commission and traditional court system(s) known as Bashinganahe amongst others that would have been suitable on the Burundian case, as means to confronting the past with commitment to correcting the wrongs.

Jeng (2012) cautions on the “fragility of purpose” whenever a legal instrument is established to serve as tool that enhances peace, indicating that balance is important in propelling people’s welfare and rights. Furthering this thought, Jeng makes reference to the inadequacy of international law in the face of countries internal conflicts. It has been observed that in such scenarios the international law has been unable to create and sustain frameworks for peace in Africa. Jeng attributes this state of affairs to a number of factors considered fundamentally strong in pushing for community involvement in peace building.

Picking up the scenario in Somalia and Burundi, Jeng relates the slowness and ineffectiveness of peace building in those areas due to the absence of philosophical connections between the locals and the African Union.

Normandin (2014) recoils at the thought that peace can be pursued in absence of instituting security measures that are anchored on sound legal systems and practice. In analyzing the case of Colombia, Normandin notes that violence has eaten the productivity of most Colombians including their lives, as the conflict has been complicated by crime especially drug related, political motivations and economic activities that subscribe to supporting the existence of criminal gangs, guerillas (Fuerzas Armadas Revolutionaries-

FARC and the Ejercito de Liberacion-ELN), millitias and state security forces. In this confusion, any peace process must endeavor to put in place a security system with capacity to reduce the spiraling violence. Fundamental to this assertion, Normandin provides is the presence of disarmament and demobilization programmes, police reforms, military reforms and establishing public security Institutions that can address spiraling levels of crime, and with a functioning judicial process that can promulgate the importance of the rule of law.

2.2.3 Peace and the Legal Environment in Kenya

Mumma (2012) argues that there have been several attempts to address some of the conflicts in Kenya by establishment of institutions and relevant enabling laws though in a reactionary manner. Key among these public sector institutions include the NSC, the

National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and the Truth, Justice and

Reconciliation Commission (TJRC), whose mandate have been the direct interaction with

Kenyans of all walks of life in cultivating an amiable environment for co-existence. This,

Mumma adds is a filament from the soberness of a Coalition Government, in itself a state to a political solution after botched presidential elections in 2008, leading to the Agenda

Item number 4 of the Kenyan National Dialogue and Reconciliation Act of 2008.

Nebe (2012) takes this discussion further by evaluating the indirect public institutions that have also been given the mandate to foresee “peace in the context of public accountability” and asserts that the presence of Independent Electoral and Boundaries

Commission (IEBC), Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) and the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ), Kenya National Human Rights

Commission amongst nine others demonstrates the strategic legal approach for instituting peace and entrenchment of structured conflict handling schemes.

Chopra (2008) underscores the missing link between law enforcement in some regions especially those of the North where cattle rustling and highway banditry is unmanageable, stating that agencies have difficulties physically operating in the arid and semi-arid lands’ vast and harsh terrain and they receive little support from the local communities. Chopra notes that the most prevalent problem, undermining the work of both judicial institutions and enforcement agencies, is that official laws and legal processes do not reflect the ideas and value systems of the local populations which define crime and prescribe how conflicts should be solved.

The researcher underscores the fact that there is no national peace policy that can guide the operations of peace building in the country, bearing in mind that a draft bill of conflict management and peace building has been pending since 2006, although it was revised in 2011. This is also in the backdrop of the proposed amendments under the

National Cohesion and Integration Act of 2008 that awaits presentation to the National assembly. This scenario reveals some of the legal challenges that face professionals, practitioners and Kenyans of good will who may seek to entrench a culture of peace in the

country. In the context of this legal quagmire, there is need that conflict is given a framework, which not only speaks of the legal composition, but that it can also accommodate alternative dispute resolution mechanisms within the law.

This should provide direction and authority to an institution that can be tasked with such a mandate. The National Cohesion and Integration Commission may well be placed to execute such an assignment of national value but unfortunately, the commission faces legal impediment as the National Cohesion and Integration Act of 2008 is as limiting. This line of thinking reads from Kivuva (2011) who presented the challenges Kenya as a country faces in trying to resettle Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), which Kivuva has compressed as incoherent and inadequate legal regime.

Listening to the arguments presented by Chopra and Kivuva, this study affirms that

Kenya lacks an adequate and user friendly legal environment where conflict handling processes can be housed. Currently there are proposals for amendments to be carried out on the efficiency of the National Cohesion and Integration Act, which aims at incorporating the recommendations that were developed by the now defunct Truth, Justice and

Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). It is also noted that political goodwill as an immediate factor that precedes the making of law has been lost in Kenya over successive governments.

Putting this in to perspective, this study noted that the report of the now defunct Truth,

Justice and Reconciliation Commission has never been adopted by the government, although it was handed over to the president on 3rd of May 2013. This is not in consideration of the recommendations within it providing for possible and most workable interventions for the numerous challenges facing Kenya.

2.2.4 Peace and Social Construction

Miller (2005) defines peace as a political condition that ensures justice and social stability through formal and informal institutions, practices and norms. However, this political condition must be able to guarantee a balance of power among the various groups within a society, religion or state, where conflicts are rife. Secondly, Miller affirms that it must provide an environment in which legitimacy for decision makers and implementers find favour in the eyes of their respective groups, and any other interested external parties to a conflict, in order to have a base upon which long term relationships are borne and maintained, particularly during periods of disagreements and crisis. Lastly and not least

Miller underpins the importance of having reliable and trusted institutions for resolving conflicts, which provide a sense of equality and respect in sentiment and in practice, within and without the warring groups.

Galtung (1993)views the world as a process based on diversity in symbiotic

(mutually influential) relations between groups, where peace is not stable end state but a more interactive process of a series of changing and balancing acts on an on-going dialect between our (people) actions and the world. Der-Ian-Yeh (2006) borrows the school of thought propagated by Galtung in support of the Buddhist perspective of what peace or war is. Der-Ian-Yeh, asserts that the words “Samnipata, Samgri and Samgamarefer to the concept of peace as a product of the collective rather than individuals being a sacrosanct component of the principle of dependent origination.

Der-Ian-Yeh further shares that in the Buddhists perspective, peace is as holistic as the interconnectedness of people and the various ecosystems at different levels of the

world, noting that the connection between negative and positive peace, resonate with theory of nature that is a dependent origination. This, Der-Ian-Yeh attributes to the fact that absence of war or direct violence only constitute temporary peace if there is no justice present in the socio-economic international or national structure. On the flipside, Der-Ian-

Yeh avers that the injustice and violence causing suffering in every node in the web of existence would inevitably and eventually weigh the negative peace, considered fragile, unstable and temporary, away, making it indispensable on the route to positive peace.

Staub (1999) looks at peace as an umbrella concept that is a general expression of human desires, of good and of ultimate persuasion. Although, these desires can be expressed by different terms at the individual level, describing people’s goals, peace is the generalized goal encompassing such ideals in expressing the global and collective concern(s). Staub cautions that peace cannot be as specific as this makes it lean, advocating that it must be broad in order to accommodate ultimate concerns, values and goals of a people in reaching the general purpose of tranquility.

Shwartz (2007) in reliving the ideas of Der-Ian-Yeh (2006) and Staub (1999) underpins the significance of cultures, without disregarding their differences, asserting that cultures prescribe the solidarity of any specific group which in turn drives the coherence of the such communities thus their function and dysfunction. Thus, Shwartz asserts that a rise in poverty, experiences of injustice and social disorganization that prevents the meeting of human basic needs in a rapidly changing world inspires people to turn to their ethnic, religious and national or other identity groups to gain support and security. This thinking if contextualized within the realm of peace does explain the ideologies that groups adopt

in difficult times in an endeavour to propagate certain values thus leading to either antagonism and violence or cooperation and tranquility.

Peace is a pluralistic environment which accommodates the social values, concerns and goals of many, having amassed the individualistic “perspectives of joy, happiness, tranquility and cohesive understanding of issues in a given region or state. This explains the concept of direct violence as understood by the maxim of negative peace, as the mass action of those who chose to express their anger, thoughts and opinion(s) in a way that subverts “standards of human serenity.” This affirms the school of thought that actions of peace or violence can be attributed to the collectivism in people as was demonstrated by the assertions of Mumma (2012), similarly discussed by Galtung (1993) and Shwartz

(2007). It is agreeable to confirm that certain cultural characteristics make easy the execution of mass violence, and similarly generate peace, only if passivity is disallowed in the process of attaining positive peace, as an action that revolves on human interactions.

Rinehart (1989) looks at peace as a surface structure transcribed by world views from deep structures emanating from social interactions. These deep structures provide the limits for world views and surface structures. The rational egoic self generates a world view partly on its own and partly from interaction with others. This world view thereby is shaped to some degree by socialization and other interactive forms but its basic features are given by the rational egoic stage. The rational egoic stage is the stage of maximum separation from the ground unconscious (Wilber, 1985, 1986). It creates a world view that perceives the world as full of separation and therefore, conflict. Thus the world appears fearsome, competitive and dangerous. Interaction with other rational egoic selves reinforces this view. The "truth" of this level is that separation, conflict and competition 60

exist. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy of a Darwinian and Hobbesian world. Peace then is viewed as a state in which conflict is somehow abated if only temporarily.

The discussion proffered by Reinhart (1989), represents the scenario faced by the

Kuria community where their sources of conflicts are embedded in the socialization structures of the people. Whereas the works done by Mumma (2012) help to affirm that cultural practices that entrench prominent traditions, which for the Kuria manifest as cattle raiding, female genital mutilation and rites of passage amongst ceremonies or events only aid in formalization of violence as an acceptable alternative to finding a balance of power.

This situation is compounded by the fact that wealth is considered a factor that defines community stability, and therefore offers ground upon which conflicts are based. In emphasizing the assertions by Reinhart (1989), this thesis agrees that, when the world around a given society is viewed as competitive, fearsome and dangerous, the very communities tend to adopt to mechanisms that make them safer in that context.

The researcher agrees with the Dar-Ian-Yeh (2006) and Staub (1999), who look at peace as a function of the whole, though given leadership by an individual. The interconnectedness between people who share common strands of life either culturally, socially economically or politically explains the reasons why atrocities or violence finds solace without remorse in a group, as the interest of one is at the least given the responsive value of defending the rights of other members of group. However, the researcher differs slightly with Reinhart, and asserts that a competitive world does not have to be violent, as fear and danger are consequences of human interactions that either seek to diminish the expectations between groups, or aim at exerting the power from the perceived stronger

group in reducing the opportunity of the less powerful group from asking what may be considered due to them.

2.2.4 The Concept of Peace Building Brabant (2010) views peace as a comprehensive concept that includes generates and sustains the full array of processes, approaches and stages needed to transform conflicts towards more sustainable, peaceful relationships. In this context and borrowing from

Lederach (1996) peace is deemed not as stage in time or condition but as a dynamic social construct. Adding value to the work of Brabant is the practitioners at George Mason

University who define peace building as processes and activities employed in resolving violent conflicts and establishing sustainable peace. It is further avowed that peace is an overarching concept that includes conflict transformation, restorative justice, trauma healing, reconciliation and building of capacities for those directly or indirectly affected by conflict.

United Nations (2000) provides a more interactive concept of peace, where this involves a range of measures targeted to reduce risk of lapsing and relapsing in to conflict by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management, but also laying foundation(s) for sustainable peace and development. It is the latter aspect which seeks transformation by way of coherent, tailored strategies to the specific needs of a given conflict scenario where local ownership provides new interactive spaces, within and out of a conflict.

In reading the perspective provided by the United Nations (2000) on peace building, the researcher goes back to the work done by Reinhart to demonstrate that fear, danger and

competition are interactive trends in the society that tend to constrict the voice of the weak and qualifies the space occupied by those who are stronger, but it is not a justification to deny those who seek harmony by restorative justice, trauma healing and reconciliation, neither is it an action that makes passivity of conflict an alternative to harmony in the society. The researcher opines that balance of expectations is what must be sought, and not the demonstration of how much space certain groups can occupy, thus making others a subject of such tyranny.

2.3 The Concept of Peace Committees

Odendaal (2010) indicates that the peace committees in Kenya were conceptualized way back in 1993 by a group of women in Wajir District, who in a sense were responding to the cycle of violence which had raged communities to deaths of about 1213 in a period of less than four years. The peace committees were formed partly due to the weak presence of government structures in the district, which led to the failure of state to intercept and regulate conflict, owing to the absence of relevant services including security and primary services. Secondly they were established as a way to appreciate the strong affiliation that communities had with their pastoral lifestyle which promoted keeping of large herds of cattle, and on the other hand, a wake call to pressurize nomadic communities adopt newer, modern ways of farming. These two factors that the peace committees were responding too became more dicey by the constant influx of refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia, but strongly the general acceptance that cattle raiding is legal, between and across such communities. The lack of social sanctions on people who performed cattle raids allowed for acquisition of light weapons and small arms, which made the district an inhabitable.

The Wajir Peace and Development Committee as it was known consisted of most civil society actors who previously would have been shut out by mainstream government peace building efforts. The Peace Committee worked closely with provincial administration and constructively engaged elders of different clans and set up a mediation process between them. Out of this process a peace building institution was born and came to be known as peace committees based in areas where conflict is prominently experienced.

Odendaal notes that peace committees provided space for the voice of those who would have not been heard for lack space or deliberate exclusion.

However, formalization of the peace committee became necessary, though without any legal recognition, as concerns for effective delivery of peace building and conflict handling processes became more pronounced amongst the key players and communities at large. It would have defeated the purpose upon which they were established if the peace committees had not provided any coordination to all peace makers and peace builders, within the paradigm of conflict transformation. Having been developed as the platform which opened doors to all participation, the peace committees allowed for the sustainable participation of communities, government agencies and CSOs, thus making it a pot of both indigenous and contemporary conflict prevention strategies.

Keanies (2003) describes peace committees as associations of persons who support peace in a situation of conflict. Many such groups have existed. Some are associations of concerned persons; some are propaganda fronts for national, sectional, or sectarian interests; others are devoted to disputes within organizations. In contextualizing Keanie’s work CAVR (2006) states that peace committees are largely a hybrid structure, borrowing

heavily from traditional conflict resolution mechanisms and the modern formal dispute arbitration processes. Although there is no consensual definition of the concept peace committee as it relates to local level peace building activities, it can be defined and or described as a conflict intervention structure that integrates both traditional and modern conflict intervention mechanisms to prevent, manage or transform intra-ethnic or interethnic conflicts.

Mbugua and Hussein (2003) avers that Conflict handling process in Kenya has not drastically changed from the originally ad hoc initiatives designed to respond to violent conflict in parts of the country, but has tried to consult the traditional means by which differences are addressed at the grassroots. This has been greatly inspired by various traditional conflict handling mechanisms among communities. With the build-up of conflict and the appreciation of the cycle within which conflict occurs, stakeholders at community level have developed semi-formal structures to deal with conflict. The peace committee model for example has grown from its original formation as an elder’s council, to the present all inclusive committee.

Neumann and Dressel (2001) highlight the relevance of peace committees sighting representation as a key to credibility of their functions in the community. The Peace

Committees are community representative institutions based at the various administrative levels. They bring together traditional dispute resolution mechanisms involving traditional elders, women, and religious leaders on the one hand and formal mechanisms for conflict resolution including those by Government administrative and security agencies and Non-

Governmental organization initiatives on the other.

Deng (1996) claims that Peace Committee is a concept heavily borrowed from the

Ghana model and experience, where a vibrant system of ‘local peace committees’ and traditional mediation has helped the country contain the fall-out from violent chieftaincy- related conflicts, and sustain development in many communities. Ghana has now elevated this system to the level of ‘national peace architecture’, which was instrumental in ensuring a peaceful political transition following national elections in December 2008. In Kenya,

‘district peace committees’ kept post-elections violence from spreading to the normally volatile Northern and Coast provinces during early 2008, even as Rift Valley and Nyanza, where these structures did not normally exist, experienced large-scale violence.

Subsequently, the peace agreement mediated by Kofi Annan mandated such structures for all the country’s districts.

Peace committees in their practice are platforms that institute as well as promulgate the views and perspectives of the different members of society. They not only allow for inclusion, but also provide an opportunity to utilize acceptable and sustainable indigenous ways of sorting out conflicts. The peace committees, as has been observed in different parts of the country extol the relevance of council of elders and the need to incorporate gender perspectives in matters of conflict transformation. Looking at the complexity of the Kuria conflict, this thesis denotes the waning interest in government led conflict handling processes among the communities, partly because of the deteriorating state of security, and advocates for the strengthening of peace committees in the region towards effective conflict transformation. His Eminent Kofi Annan summed it up well when, with his team during the post-election violence negotiations under the Kenya National Dialogue and

Reconciliation Act of 2008, recommended that peace committees be established countrywide to help stem inter community animosities.

Conflict handling requires that there is order, which is demonstrated by the presence of a relevant legal regime, institutions with mandate to address emerging and existing issues and a community well informed of their rights and obligations. This can be read from the works of Neumann (2001) who alludes to the credibility of peace committees as structures present in the community and easily accessible, which saves on the response time thus reducing grave consequences out of conflicts responded to belatedly. Adding value to the works undertaken by Neumann is Njoroge (2003) who observes and credits peace committees with organized approach to peace building, as a way that deviates from the commonly ad hoc and reactive mechanisms previously employed. Although peace committees are not legally recognized, their legitimacy at the grassroots is irrevocable and accounts for the preferences in transition situations where communities require accompaniments, out of violent conflict scenario. Keanies (2003) praises the abilities that peace committees have shown in an endeavour to foster cooperative approaches in addressing conflict and harnessing peace between communities.

Although the researcher agrees almost with Neumann (2001) and Njoroge (2003) that peace committees are an aim of standardizing community response to conflict scenarios, he notes that capacity to deliver must projected on public goodwill that creates operational space, even in communities that are constantly bickering. The researcher notes that capacity building should be an interactive function to enhance relationships of acceptability between and across communities, including the peace maker, rather than

exclusive academic trainings of building conflict handling skills of individuals in isolation of the fundamental tie making attributes linking people together.

2.3.1 Challenges faced by Peace Committees

Gastrow (1995) enumerates the difficulties faced by Peace Committees in undertaking their work. First, the concept of peace committees is volunteer oriented making this process unsustainable, as most members find no value for the return on the time spent undertaking conflict handling work. This is in relation to the functions of seeking fulfillment of basic needs. Therefore when such monetary gains are not forthcoming, members tend to withdraw from the activities of the committees. Another aspect that debilitates the functioning of Peace Committees is the misplaced intentions of members of such associations. Although the intentions of a peace committee are known, some of the members use them as platforms for seeking material gains, considering that mainstream (government) agencies tend to go through them in finding entry to community where conflicts occur. Secondly, other consider the Peace Committees as spring board to political ambition(s)

Mark (2000) decries the infiltration by political interests, economic overtures from prominent business people who at times use the Peace Committees as protective schemes away from their participation in conflicts, thus maintaining rather than doing away with a given conflict. Specifically Mark insists that ethnicity and sub-ethnic interests have plagued the Peace Committees in to vehicles that sustain hegemonic tendencies hence supporting some of the pillars which uphold conflicts.

Gunja and Korir (2005) summarize the concerns by Gastrow (1995) and mark

(2000) by raising the issue of unsustainable funding as a thread that runs through the inefficiency and unreliability of Peace Committees. The areas where Peace Committees serve can be extensive, sometimes calling for long distance commuting and with no reliable resources most members opt out. However, these scenarios have increased their vulnerability, predisposing them to influence from politicians and powerful ethnic interests. This has strengthened strands of intolerance particularly in cosmopolitan areas where some ethnic groups are not allowed access to the chair-ship of most committees, thus suffocating the very purpose of the very existence of Peace Committees.

Kanyangolo (2006) exposes a more complex issue that touches on the institutionalization of the Peace Committees. It is observed that implementation of the peace committee is a major problem. For communities, peace invariably means more than the settlement of major national issues. Local conflicts have their own histories, conditions, and complexities, which provide the context within which peace agreements must be implemented. Peace forged at the national level can be strengthened by community-level peace building efforts, and investment at the local level lays the foundation for social cohesion and effective governance.

Gunja and Korir (2005) decry the lack of political will and infiltration for political ends is a commonly experienced challenge by peace committees. In most cases, and out of this fear, neutral persons, and mostly District Commissioners have been prevailed upon to chair some peace committees as the case of Mandera attest. Politicians have also infiltrated

peace committees where they lobby for inclusion of their sympathizers as leaders of the committee.

Barakat (2005) speaks to the inadequacy in legal recognition and the nebulous legal definition as a challenge that removes it from the platform of community interaction. This is due to the association most peace committees have with provincial or state organizations, making them as mainstream and foreign. This not only dents the effectiveness, it also constricts acceptability amongst those they are supposed to serve.

IRIN (2007) grapples with the issue of whether the Peace Committees have been successful or have they met failures on their part? The fact that disputes have been solved is certainly very positive, but Local Peace Committees have also failed in some instances.

A report of 17 December 2007 (IRIN 2007) - on post-election violence in Kenya titled

“Inefficient peace committees frustrate reconciliation in clash areas.” It referred to the

Mount Elgon area in Kenya where fighting between two clans had erupted. Community, civic, religious and local authority leaders have questioned, according to the report, the make-up of peace committees and whether or not they were operational before the conflict.

Incidentally they did not call for disbanding the Local Peace Committees, rather for reviving and restructuring them because they believed they “could play a pivotal role in pacifying the warring groups (Marshall, 2011).

Having read and listened to different scholarly impressions on the challenges facing peace committees, this study undertakes to provide possible solutions which can make and uphold the place of peace committees in the peace building spectrum. Looking at the work of Gastrow (1995) who decries the unsustainable working arrangement where peace

committee members are volunteers, this study appreciates the urgency to develop primary peace committee structures from the local to the national level, with a view to professionalize the services offered. Once such services are professionalized and there is a regulatory authority in place, the members would be forced to generate self-regulatory measures in order to protect and promote integrity amongst themselves.

Gastrow’s concerns about voluntary participation make more sense when combined with Mark’s (2000) disquiet over the issue of monetary gains received from politicians who seek favours from peace committees. Reading through this, the study seem to agree that there is indeed a point of weakness within the operation systems of the peace committees and finds value in developing standards of operations particularly integration of the rule of law and adoption of human rights approaches in addressing issues of conflicts at whatever level. These perspectives provided by the researcher, observe that funding remains a core issue that bedevils the execution of peace committees mandate, and links this to the urgency of having a regulatory arm or institution whose major concern amongst others would include mobilizing of resources apart from maintaining credibility portfolio of peace committees.

2.3.2 Peace Committees and Conflict Handlin Processes

Nathan (1993) views Peace committees as transitional mechanisms, aimed at filling a void or weakness in governance by noting that such periods (Transitional periods) are particularly those that follow the declaration of a ceasefire, the signing of a peace accord and an agreement on negotiating a new political dispensation, usually and inherently disorderly processes, sometimes confusing and often violent. Typically the security

services are demoralized or discredited, whereas the executive suffer political credibility or legitimacy. It is a time of social restiveness, as mentioned above regarding Nepal, where various social and political groups, for legitimate or opportunistic reasons, exploit the available space to mobilize and agitate. In this regard Peace Committees provide the legitimate voice which can push the agenda of orderliness and observation of the negotiated agreement, specifically in the absence of “mainstream government” as was observed in

Nepal.

The concept and the subsequent structure of Peace Committees were tried in South

Africa when the apartheid government was still in power during the period 1992-1994, but were rejected out of what some scholars refer to as “fundamental structural problem.”

Although the Local Peace Committees were deployed, they enjoyed very, minimal political support thus exposing them as impose on to society. With its credibility and legitimacy at very low levels, its resources stretched and its mind focused on the ongoing negotiations, little energy was left to manage and control the multiple expressions of citizens’ anger and frustration. Yet, the new constitution had not been formulated and the new government not elected (Ibid).

Neyround and Beckley (2001) see an academic link between Nathan’s fundamental structural problem” and the absence of legitimate forums and procedures for contesting power making Local Peace Committees an “imperfect bridge” to help facilitate the transition at local level. Soon after the election of 1994 that established a new legitimate government, the Local Peace Committees were disbanded – in spite of concerted efforts by some actors who felt that Local Peace Committees still had a role to play. With the

establishment of legitimate order, the time of Local Peace Committees was past. To stay with the image of an “imperfect bridge”: with the river in flood and all normal bridges destroyed, imperfect bridges were necessary. These imperfect bridges could be discarded, however, as soon as ordinary bridges (i.e. legitimate local government) were re-established.

The Kenyan case as Adan and Pkalya (2006) note had Local Peace Committees rooted in the failure of the state to provide security and justice. "The realization that community members themselves were better placed to manage their own conflicts was anchored on the inaccessibility of the formal judicial system and lack of trust in government in leading conflict prevention interventions. Though legal governance was in place, Local Peace Committees were necessary because the state was incapable to deal with some of the challenges that communities have faced. They were established primarily to deal with the high incidence of cattle rustling and interethnic conflict in the Rift Valley.

The Local Peace Committees have built their legitimacy on the traditional institution of elders, yet adapted it somewhat towards a more modern context.

Gastrow (1995) applauds peace committees as having capacity to reduce levels of violence and create safer communities. Possibly the most dramatic example in this respect was the role that Local Peace Committees played in South Africa following the assassination in April 1993 of Chris Hani, one of the liberation movement’s most charismatic and popular leaders. The country was at a knife edge because of this incident.

It would have taken very little effort to plunge the country into a vortex of violence. The

Local Peace Committees have been widely acknowledged for the contribution that they have made across the country to prevent that scenario. They did so by facilitating joint

planning sessions at local level to forge local agreements on how the various protest actions and memorial services that were planned, should be conducted. It often included an affirmation of the Code of Conduct of the National Peace Accord. It also entailed practical agreements regarding monitoring. The fact that these arrangements were made jointly, i.e. with the collaboration of the liberation movement’s structures, local government and the local police, ensured that they were effective to a large extent. The funeral of Hani and the various protest events across the country were not completely violence free, but in relative terms they were peaceful.

Without downgrading the degree of failure on the part of the Local Peace

Committees, Ball (1998) notes that in South Africa political violence increased after the signing of the National Peace Accord (in terms of which Local Peace Committees were established) thus making them an easy political scapegoat at the grassroots. In the period

September 1990 to August 1991 2,649 persons had died. It increased to 3,404 during the year following the signing of the Peace Accord (in September 1991) and 3 567 the next year. The Star, a Johannesburg daily, had initially been skeptical of the Peace Accord and its peace committees. It concluded that Local Peace Committees had definitely prevented violence by solving many burning issues, promoting dialogue and monitoring protest events. "It has been instrumental in containing violence to levels that would otherwise have reached even more alarming levels’ the star quoted.

Gootnick (2005) proffers that peace committees are by their nature far too fragile to stop violence altogether. A process that is built on the ‘soft power’ of dialogue and mutual problem-solving cannot stop spoilers that are determined to use violence. They

were most successful when dealing with a situation of anticipated violence where it was possible to bring parties together in time and negotiate proper preventative arrangements.

They were also effective in managing rumours. Rumours, in a context of high polarization and tension, are particularly dangerous. By being a platform where reliable communication could take place, rumours had been dealt with effectively. Local Peace Committees, however, have no mechanisms or power to prevent sporadic acts of violence or intentional violence. This fact should not detract from the immense value of containing or reducing violence.

Odendaal (2006) affirms that dialogue is the premise upon which most if not all

Peace Committees reference their work. Yet it is also an explicit objective in itself. One of the objectives in Northern Ireland with the District Policing Partnerships was to enable local people and their political representatives to articulate their views and concerns about policing – an issue that symbolized so much of the polarization in that country (Northern

Ireland Policing Board 2007). In Sri Lanka the People’s Forums had quarterly discussions on common community concerns (AED 2006; AED 2007; Anti-War Front, Foundation for

Co-existence et al. 2007). (Interestingly these Local Peace Committees sprang into action after the tsunami and were instrumental in facilitating a number of impressive reconstruction projects.) Regarding Local Peace Committees in South Africa Ball (1998:

26, 30) mentioned that Local Peace Committees helped engender dialog where none had existed or seemed possible before.” Local Peace Committees became a place “where people felt safe to raise difficult and contentious issues". In the DRC and Liberia Local

Peace Committees enabled people from deeply divided and traumatized communities to talk to each other.

Patel (2006) in contextualizing contributions made by Local Peace Committees in

Malawi noted that most of the dialogue that Local Peace Committees facilitated took place during processes to solve specific problems. The enhanced mutual understanding was almost a bonus such as the “cordiality” and enhanced trust between political parties regarding the local level Multi-party Liaison Committees of Malawi.

Nyathi (2008) brings forth the Guyana experience as an initiative whose sole and explicit purpose was to facilitate “conversations to explore” at community level. They have avoided the word “dialogue” because of negative experiences with it in the past. The conversations took place under auspices of the Guyana Ethnic Relations Commission and with UN support. With a history of election-related violence in the country, the objective was to promote ‘talking’ as a first response to problems and to open more constructive channels of communication between identity groups. During a period of 4 months 153 neighborhood and regional “Multi-stakeholder Forums” were conducted where community members talked to each other about their concerns, fears and hopes. In the post-elections period Guyanese were able to sit and talk with each other at the National Conversation in a respectful and highly interactive manner about national challenges in ways not done before.

Butt (2004) commends peace committees as vital in Problem-solving and community-building noting that some of the most inspiring reports regarding the impact of

Local Peace Committees tend to come from communities that have been shattered by violence. In this regard the case of Kibimba in Burundi stands out a loud. The Local Peace

Committees aid in responding to the critical question inspired most LPC members: “How

can communities that have consistently engaged in violent conflict live together again?

Another demonstration is found in the South Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo where LPC organized sporting events specifically football matches between ex- vigilante of the so-called Mai-Mai and community youth to drive the agenda of peace building. It presented a powerful image of the restoration of the ordinary in the midst of mind-boggling chaos; of making community life possible again.

Jenner and Ibrahim (1998) make reference to the story of North Eastern part of

Kenya where the Wajir Peace and Development Committee did some astounding work. As an intervention growing out of deep concerns and effects of negative effects emanating from inter-clan strives of the pastoralist communities, this group of women founders have brought structured dimensions of sharing the once scarce and fought for points of water.

Remarkably these efforts that emphasized the empowerment of women for seeking home grown solutions, through joint conflict transformation activities inspired replication and formation of other Local Peace Committees in the region.

Shepler and Onideyi (2006) single out an LPC of Liberia that reported dealing successfully with 39 cases over a 2 year period, mostly regarding land ownership issues of returned displaced persons. Similar assertions are noted by Aziri (2008) indicating reduced animosities in Macedonia where a local Committee on Inter-Ethnic Relations, upon consensus amongst stakeholders was credited with the radical; but acceptable renaming of streets and public buildings, which was a highly emotive issue in a multi-ethnic context. In this context therefore, Local Peace Committees, have the ability to facilitate or mediate solutions to disputes that threaten the fragile peace in communities. They are capable of

restoring some semblance of community life in the midst of the devastation of violence.

Reports on the work of Local Peace Committees confirm this fact without exception.

Odendaal and Spies (2006) link successful joint problem-solving at local level to

Peace Committees and notes that noting the problem solving is an indisputable peace building value. Moreover, its positive impact on the general political culture should also be considered. In South Africa, for example, Local Peace Committees introduced mediation and joint problem-solving processes to rural areas. It implied a significant paradigm shift away from authoritarian styles of decision-making. Mediation or other forms of joint problem-solving have an inherent democratization effect because they establish some ‘level playing-field’ where parties engage with each other on (more or less) equal terms and work together to solve a problem. It is the anti-thesis of authoritarian rule.

The success in dealing with conflict in new manners, therefore, contributes to the democratization process in a country.

Ramsbotham (2009) acknowledges that many Local Peace Committees have reconciliation as a main objective, though in itself reconciliation is quite a complex process.

Reconciliation is “dealing with the worst of the human condition, the effort to repair the brokenness of relationships and life itself.” It involves a process where the often contrasting demands of peace, justice; truth and mercy (amnesty) have to be integrated and balanced

(MoPR, 2007). Local Peace Committees contribute to reconciliation in many indirect ways.

When communication is facilitated, violence is prevented, relationships are strengthened and specific disputes resolved and the goal of ultimate reconciliation is served. A case in point is represented by the Liberian community where a LPC facilitated talks that led to

the cleansing and reopening of a mosque that was used as a carpentry shop during the war.

The contribution of such an act to local reconciliation between two ethnic groups, one being

Muslim and the other Christian had a substantial transformative value and effect.

In making Local Peace Committees more vibrant, credible and legit Lederach

(2005) indicates that structures can be put in place to help Local Peace Committees provide reconciliation work, as most local communities require urgent reconciliation, being victims and villains in any process of conflict. This lesson can be found in the case of East Timor where the National Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation of East Timor established Community-level Reconciliation Procedures (CPRs) for perpetrators of lesser crimes. These were mediation procedures between victims and perpetrators at local level, based on traditional practices. Over 90% of the cases submitted were satisfactorily dealt with by CPRs, approximately 40 000 community members participated in these procedures; while an interim review revealed that 90% of those interviewed expressed satisfaction with the process. In conclusion Lederach notes that reconciliation must be looked at as a national project that grows from national policies aimed at transforming conflicts. There is not much evidence that Local Peace Committees have been involved in reconciliation in a structured and planned way, but by their composition and nature they would be ideally placed to house such processes (Lund and Myers, 2007).

This study looks at peace committees by the lenses of Tongeren (2012) who submits that peace committees can either be formal or informal depending with the situation and the very country, particularly on how they were established. Their functioning is highly dictated by the amount of influence which accrues from its autonomy or affiliation with

main sponsors. The most formalized peace committees enjoy a lot of support from the government, but are restricted to the machinations of state preferences. However, the most informal peace committees which indicate the lesser relationship with government agencies especially the absence of direct funding have demonstrated independence of mind, decision making and even taken policy stand points that objectively represents concerns of the affected by conflicts. A case in point is the Guyana Ethnic Relations

Commission which partnered with the United Nations to ensure local peace committees contributed to the holding of peaceful elections in 2006 (Hayman, 2010).

Reading from the work of Hayman (2010), this study begs to differ from the assumption that peace committees are a response to failed or absence government structures in a given state and posit that peace committees ought to be formed within a functional government structure, in order to avoid the transitional tag which peace committees carry around, making them vulnerable to disbandment (Nathan, 1993). This level of impermanence portends difficulty of operation and exposes members to “political extortionists” who sometimes cite consistent political support or the lack of it in order to get favorable assessment for other selfish individual gains.

This state of affairs can be credited to the recent Kenyan situation (research study,

2014), where the National Cohesion and Integration Commission operated minimally for the absence of Commissioners for a period of almost two years which made their work quite difficult to execute. It is this line of thought that makes the study caution against the temporariness of peace committees in conflict ridden communities. This state of uncertainty as observed by Neyround (2001) does not give moral incentives to the peace

committees’ commitment on negotiating for sustainable peace in a given community. This situation indirectly permeates the culture of procrastination, amongst peace committees in order that favors which are generated out of bad situations continue, and therefore conform to the concerns of Tongeren (2012) who alluded to the presence of conflict economy.

This study wishes to deviate from the popular believe that government’s top down approach to matters of conflicts does always exclude the local communities’ contributions to conflict handling. The presence or absence of government agencies in any given state does not create a vacuum of leadership but rather of structures which are dysfunctional and redundant, thus creating room for alternative leadership or voice of guidance, which qualifies of how most peace committees get established.

Without disregarding the contributions made by peace committees in entrenching objective relationships between different groups, it is important to note that home grown solutions, (that are highly attributable to peace committees) without the oversight role of the rule of law which can best be ascribed to the state, are difficult to sustain. As demonstrated by Gastrow (1995), peace committees are best known for accompaniment and establishment of safer operational corridors for communities faced with crisis, but this cannot be fully achieved without the partnership with state law enforcement agencies.

It is therefore the take of this study that peace committees (consisting of civil society, private sector/business community and the larger local community) cannot act alone without the support of the vast government machinery. Although decision making requires that horizontal consultations be undertaken, the study upholds the need to maintain leadership for ease of implementation on such decisions through vertical means, which

sometimes legitimize coercion if the need so requires. This approach as the study contends would provide room for structured community organizing and conferencing, towards establishment of local level partnerships that uphold dialogue that can mobilize mitigations which cushion against people’s fears but accommodates their expectations on consensus.

This was the case of Guyana Ethics Commission, whose outcome was a peaceful election in 2006, a feat that was celebrated worldwide.

2.3.4 Peace Committees and Stakeholder Participation

Barakat (2005) argues that conflict handling and peace building processes must provide an opportunity to all members of an affected or interested society ranging from women organizations, peace committees, religious organizations, civil society, media, civil society, and private sector to security forces, government ministries, private sectors, development partners and others depending on the vastness and diversity of the region.

Each of these actors experiences a different reality of conflict depending on their political, economic, social and cultural environment. Therefore the Peace Committees then become platforms upon which stakeholders can rally and get involved in conflict handling as well as peace building.

Lederach (1997) looks at stakeholder forums with the view of growing a critical mass or number which can play a role in policy dialogue and formulation. Stakeholders’ fora act as the think tank for the masses where issues are highlighted and matched to potential opportunities for influencing policy. The process of identification and prioritization of issues necessarily involve approaches ensuring consensus building on issues of advocacy. For example civil society, pastoralist groups, women organizations and

development partners may agree that there is need to mainstream conflict management in development programs because it would alleviate certain conflicts that arise from competition over dwindling resources, poverty and lack of alternative livelihood opportunities.

Markussen (2011) in demonstrating the significance of stakeholder participation notes that since the 2004 general elections in Ghana, there have only been two substantive incidents of violence in Dagbon. The peace advisory council has grown to become the reference point on all conflicts in the region. Its processes remain transparent, participatory and accords respect to the stakeholders. Because the representatives were chosen by the stakeholders themselves, they have legitimacy and credibility and could speak candidly to their respective constituents about the issues in the conflict, the perspectives of other groups, and what enlightened self-interest for their group entailed. Deliberate engagement with politicians was also successful and has generated allies in the national assembly thus growing a partnership which makes legal proposals easy to execute through sharing of experience and exchange ideas on the ways forward in the peace process. They further agreed to support the peace process and to de-emphasize the conflict in their political rhetoric.

Deng (1996) notes the escalation that grew out of the activities of the Northern

Region Peace Advisory Council, once the government explored the possibility and relevance of extending the peace council concept to the rest of the country. A range of consultations were organized by the Ministry of Interior and UNDP with stakeholders at local, regional and national levels. The stakeholders included faith community

representatives, community representatives and community based organizations, youth and women’s groups, chiefs, non-governmental organizations, local and regional government officials and agencies and security agencies.

Gootnick (2005) pays attention to the details that make up stakeholders’ consultations noting issues that are explored. Of specific interest is the concern to identify the causes and nature of conflicts in the communities, the nature of the responses and how effective they had been, the gaps in the responses and what needed to be done, and partnership between state and non-state actors in building peace and preventing violence.

Particular attention was devoted to learning about local initiatives in building peace and resolving conflicts, and how they could be made sustainable.

Kanyangolo (2006) approves the relevance of stakeholder consultations where local initiatives are born and bred and existing groups work together with the community in handling conflict. While it has been proved that motivation is usually high, and people tend to be pragmatic in all means and manners, to get solutions sometimes by use of holy books, local customs and precepts, the sheer lack for capacity constricts success rates. Thus one of the main contributions that stakeholders have made is discussing, building and generating skills and competencies amongst the community in order that issues of conflict transformation and peace building are not appreciated but upheld too. This understanding and competitive preparedness has been summed up in terms of amassment of resources, appropriating interventions, structures for sustained engagement, and the establishment of partnership with state institutions which have the capacity to guarantee or monitor the implementation of outcomes.

2.3.5 Peace Committees, Practice and Effectiveness in Conflict Transformation

Lund and Myers (2007) indicate that peace committees depending with the prevailing circumstances can easily work outside the rigidity of structured approaches and develop ad hoc practical agreements which keep broader inter-communal relations positive, creating environments where nomads can graze together, townspeople can live together, and merchants can trade together even if military men remain unreconciled.

Further it is noted that International agencies can promote local dispute resolution mechanisms to ensure that local actors participate in conflict management by partnering with existing local institutions. The purpose here is for the peace committees to create an environment, temporal or not where credible local people willingly act as mediators while external players undertake other humanitarian services, as can be expected of UN officials, peacekeepers and official delegations in a scenario where violence is paused.

Somalia represents the work done by peace committees, as can be observed that the locals (Somalis) resorted to clan and sub clan structures to meet basic needs, including security, with the state’s disappearance and breakdown into “warlordism.” While the re- ascendency of clan politics in Somalia encouraged certain patterns of conflict, traditional mechanisms were revived and adapted to resolve inter clan killings and conflicts over resources. Lineage elders, who led smaller units within the clan, returned to prominence and the mediating authority of Akils—heads of lineage groups—was re-established. Their functions expanded into the vacuum left by the collapse of the national government.

According to a survey of traditional local structures commissioned by the UK-based NGO

ACTION AID, such structures have enabled Somalis in some areas to break the momentum of war (Ibid). 85

Adan and Pkayla (2006) make note of peace conferences arguing that peace committees have somehow popularized them as an alternative decision making process which allows for the voice of the silent on matters of peace building. Peace Conferences.

In many areas residents have achieved agreements to end fighting through local peace conferences. These peace conferences brought together and were guided by the elders of interdependent sub clans. The conferences dealt with immediate concerns, made local leaders responsible for inter clan fighting, and helped identify appropriate representatives for clan concerns. Once such local agreements were secured, it was possible to repeat a similar process at a higher level with a wider set of clans. These processes included a reliance on elders, lengthy oral deliberations, creation of a forum or assembly of elders, and negotiations over access to resources and payments for deaths between clans.

Mbugua and Hussein (2003) express fears of non-recognition of peace committees in a conflict where warlordism is culturally ingrained citing the case of Somali in Mudug region in May 1993. Elders from numerous sub-clans in the economically and strategically critical Mudug region of the central Somali rangelands undertook a peace initiative.

UNOSOM was not involved and chose not to recognize or support the conference, fearing that General Mohamed Aidid had hijacked the process. The conference involved community and religious leaders, businessmen, students, and factional representatives and produced a largely successful ceasefire. The agreement involved the return of property, the withdrawal of militias, and the opening of roads. The commercial imperative for peace is the most important factor in the continuing stability in the region. After over six months, a national (Somaliland) peace charter was agreed upon, and basic provisions for law and order were formulated.

Smok (1999) brings the experience that has scaled down the conflict situation in the Eastern Equatorial province of southern Sudan, which was and still remains a melting pot of ethnicity, including the Lotuko, Didinga, Boya and Toposa. Historically, cattle’s rustling is endemic in the region and goes beyond Sudan’s borders into Kenya and Ethiopia.

Inter communal conflict had increased in the Lotuko areas following the SPLA split in

1991 because of constant clashes for control of certain areas and the rise of banditry and large-scale cattle raiding. In response, the two major Christian churches of the region, the

Catholic and African Inland Church, joined together to write a Pastoral Letter which was read during Christmas ceremonies in 1994. The Letter emphasized the local Lotuko concept of emwara (reconciliation). Leaders of the Catholic Diocese of Torit began visiting villages to discuss the emwara concept. In January 1995 the Diocese hosted a peace conference in Ikotos, involving roughly 7,000 participants, including chiefs, teachers, youths, and SPLA leaders and members. The conference resolved many issues; for instance, escalating dowry prices were a reason for increased cattle rustling, so the conferees agreed to reduce the dowry from thirty to ten cows. Those caught raiding would be fined double their take. Compensation for wrongful death was set at 22 cows. Travelling outside one’s home village with guns was disallowed, with confiscation of the weapon the penalty. Soldiers would not be allowed to visit villages without specific orders from their commander. As of mid-1995, the agreement was holding for the most part.

Kosceki (2008) looks at the case of Kenya, noting that establishment of peace committee which started in 1993 by a group of women of the Wajir district, bordering

Somalia and Ethiopia, was a response to a destructive cycle of violence, between different clans. In order to scale down the unnecessary deaths that have reached 1,213 over a period

of four years, there was justification for a locally driven peace building process. However, the peace building initiative acknowledged the absence of strong government structure(s) thus depicting the state as inept to provide security, thus failure to control or nip the conflict. The lack of an effective government or state agency compounded by a harsh environment frequented by droughts and insufficient natural resources increased the vulnerabilities of the pastoralists’ communities, hence creating a window to engage in other survival mechanisms including cattle raids. The raids become more vicious and sophisticated owing to the fact that refugee influx from Somalia and Ethiopia provided easily accessible small arms and light weapons.

Ibrahim and Jenner (1998) contextualize the organization of the peace committees established in Wajir, by noting that it brought together mainstream government agencies through District Commissioner, legislators, civil society organizations and specifically incorporated elders of different clans in seeking lasting solution to the impending conflict issues. This initiative allowed for structured mediation process led by council of elders from the different clans, eventually leading to the “Al Fatah Declaration, which was a code of conduct.

These efforts were however hampered by the absence of legal recognition, thus peace committees suffering from legitimacy crisis. It was found necessary that legal recognition is put in place due to a) create avenues for inclusivity; b) to provide coordination to all the peace-making and peace building activities in the district; and c) to ensure sustainability in the participation of figures with formal authority. In spite the noble intention behind the formation of the peace committees, the legal recognition and

formalization was never realized due to poor relationship between the state and civil society

(Ibid).

However, Koceski (1998) cautions that formal peace structures domiciled in government institutions would otherwise alienate the civil society actors on the one hand.

On the other, Koceski reads the danger of why the hosting of peace would be a disadvantaged process if it would have been housed as nongovernmental organization. This action, if followed through, would have automatically shut out the government. It is against this background that peace committees were integrated administratively in the District

Development Committees, where opportunities was “open” to NGOs,, faith based groups, citizens groups and state agency amongst others.

Replication of this process and initiative was soon adopted in Kenya as asserted by

Ibrahim and Jenner (1998) making the Wajir Peace and Development Committee a model upon which peace building at the local level was to be based. The successes of the Wajir

Peace and Development Committee led to the support of international community, NGOs and the religious stakeholders in the establishment and strengthening of other similar peace committees in other areas of the north. It must be observed that the process of replicating the peace committees was uncoordinated and haphazardly executed leading to duplication and unnecessary competition, thus defeating the very purpose of their existence.

Koceski (2008) avers that the national government took notice of local peace committees and in 2001 established the National Steering Committee (NSC) on Peace

Building and Conflict Management in which peace committees played a significant role.

For the fact that NSC had the responsibility to formulate a national policy on conflict

management and to provide coordination to various peace building initiatives, the peace committees stood a better chance to find a legal operational space. Out of the initiatives of the peace committee several districts negotiated and signed the Modogashe declaration, later on renamed Garissa declaration upon amendment in May 2005.

Nebi (2009) recalls the premise behind the interventions of post-election conflict as the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Act of 2008, which saw the establishment of the National Accord and Reconciliation Committee. Due to high spread killings experienced in very short time, the NDRA proposed the establishment Peace

Committees in all of Kenya’s districts, with priority given to the Rift Valley.

Kanyangolo (2006) sums up this discussion by stating that there is fair amount of consensus among researchers and observers that the peace committees have, on the whole, been successful. They have demonstrated their ability to manage inter-community conflict and to contain or prevent violence. Their ability to integrate a broad range of local stakeholders who were locally perceived as relevant for conflict resolution has been observed; their ability to apply features of the local system; and their ability to tackle cases of inter-ethnic conflict where different values and customs were at stake. In addition, they have facilitated a form of engagement between marginalized communities and the government that has enhanced government’s responsiveness to these communities.

2.3.6 Peace Committees, Policy Framework and Effective Conflict Transformation

Aziri (2008) recognizes the importance of having a reliable policy framework when addressing issues of peace and specifically structural appreciation which inbuilt peace committees at whatever level of engagement. In this regard Japan spearheaded the

structured institutionalization of relations among nations, thus aiding in the transformation of the United Nations from a wartime alliance into a multilateral organization for securing a peaceful and prosperous post-war era, the United States and its allies established the

General Assembly and the Security Council as its central political institutions. At the same time, between 1943 and 1950, governments created a suite of expert institutions known collectively as the United Nations specialized agencies, including, among others, the Food and Agriculture Organization; the International Monetary Fund; the World Bank; the

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); the

International Civil Aviation Organization; the World Health Organization; and the World

Meteorological Organization. Many of these institutions remain central in the management of world affairs today.

Butt (2004) states that the importance of physical infrastructure is for the functioning of Local Peace Committees is still a debate among practitioners, scholars and communities. In South Africa it was necessary for Local Peace Committees to appoint their own support staff and establish their own offices, despite being financed by government.

The liberation movements refused to have meetings in government offices or to deal with government employees because of deep levels of suspicion. Therefore the establishment of a separate infrastructure that was accountable to an inclusive multi- party body, the Peace

Secretariat, was necessary.

Mark (2000) seems to have a slightly different perspective where he asserts that peace committees tend to need very little in terms of infrastructural support in order to function. They should ideally be able to make use of existing resources in a community

(like a venue for meeting and communication resources). In Nepal it has been calculated that the key requirement would be support for the LPC facilitators to enable them to support the Local Peace Committees. This would require payment of fees and travel costs. The

Chief District Officer would provide the venue for meetings and office space. Training and orientation of the LPC members would also be a key requirement.

Barakat (2005) addresses the issue of acceptability and belonging of a peace committee to the community citing that peace committees with a national mandate attract government support which includes financing and infrastructure. In the same vein, where the state or governments suffer from inadequacies of any kind particularly resources donor agencies would step in. this, as was the case of Ghana and Sierra Leone demonstrates the relevance of peace committees when their functionality is widened to include partnerships with government, International actors, local actors and other interested parties whenever there is a conflict. In Kenya, the Local Peace Committees received a lot of support from the larger civil society, various NGOs and INGOs but specifically the National Council of

Churches of Kenya was also very instrumental.

Adan and Pkalya (2006) submit to contextualize support for Local Peace

Committees and decries the growing culture where Local Peace Committees only operate when allowance are guaranteed, which takes away the essence of their existence. This has exposed the Local Peace Committees to adopting corrupt/dishonest tendencies when it comes to dealing with conflict thus threatening the very fragile situation that their mandate ascribes to mollify. What this has done is to kill the spirit of volunteerism amongst peace committees, thus diluting the willingness for community service. This has greatly affected

the Local Peace Committees in Kenya and Liberia, which is trend that scholars point out, is associated with prevalent presence of NGOs in a region of conflict.

However, Onideyi (2006) affirms that peace committees need access to a fairly professional level of facilitation that is located outside the local community. For example, it is in most cases necessary that someone should come from outside to broker an agreement on the decision to form such as LPC, especially where polarization at local level is so extreme that normal communication between different sections of the community is not possible. Furthermore, during the life of a LPC it may also encounter specific situations that are too complex to deal with, either because of the depth of animosity and distrust experienced at local level or because the nature of the problem is such that intervention from outside is necessary. Under such circumstances Local Peace Committees benefit from having access to facilitators that are located at provincial or national level. Especially in situations where Local Peace Committees are established as part of a national strategy the existence of such facilitation capacity at a fairly professional level is necessary. In South

Africa this function was fulfilled by full-time staff appointed by the Peace Secretariat. In the case of Ghana and Sierra Leone the expertise resided at the UN Country Office and with individual nationals that have received training from them. In the case of civil society

Local Peace Committees, this expertise was provided by the supporting NGOs. Skilled facilitation capacity is therefore necessary for the successful functioning of Local Peace

Committees.

Barakat (2005) promotes the idea that peace committees themselves need, as a minimum, sufficient orientation regarding the roles expected of them. But they also need

training in basic peace building concepts and skills. By training Local Peace Committees is not meant giving prescriptive knowledge on what they should and should not do. In the peace building field much progress has been made on conducting training in ways that are experiential in format, building on local experiences and knowledge. Training a LPC means to guide them on a collective journey of reflecting on their own experiences of conflict and exploring some constructive ways to transform the conflict. Training, therefore, is in itself a peace building exercise where mutual understanding is deepened, relationships strengthened and a mutual vision for the future developed. It has also been found that attention to personal emotional growth and self-awareness is necessary, given the depth of trauma that local people have experienced and the importance of the person of the peace-builder in peace building.

Having looked at the need for a policy framework that can permit the coordinated functioning of Local Peace Committees, it is evident that a system where local communities are greatly involved is necessary. It is important that peace committees at whatever level require necessary support particularly recognition at the national (state) level to allow development of a structure where dialogue is not restrictive. While volunteerism is a concept that is amorphous, it is urgent that this is defined, in order that the state and stakeholders whose benefit from a peaceful society generate or develop a resource pot (consolidated at the local level) to make easy the operation of the peace committees. Peace committees must therefore, in practice establish and maintain partnerships and networks that are impartial, non-partisan and approachable by every member of the community, thus emphasizing the need to stay out of political affiliations and leanings, and this prohibition may include the kind of support received.

This line of thinking is supported by the works of Barakat (2005), Adan (2006) and

Onideyi (2006), who conclude that in the absence of a policy framework giving mandate to operations of peace committees, the ad hoc approaches shall remain unsustainable and minimize the contribution of communities making peace building schemes in their own conflicts.

2.3.7 Peace Committees: Experience from other Countries

In Northern Ireland, the design of peace committees was an attempt to find the solution to the policing of a divided community, one part of which had largely lost confidence in its police force. Since 2008 there has been a remarkable normalization of community attitudes towards policing. However, credit for this is not due solely or primarily to these local bodies; national political developments played a major role.

Instead, their value is that they provided the only available platform for conflict management on issues that have always deeply divided communities. The peace committees adopted a consociation model by institutionalizing regular discussions in deeply divided communities. These discussions were important for building better social cohesion and contributed to normalizing policing and, therefore, to greater state legitimacy

(Barakat, 2005).

Deng (2006) notes that conflicts in Africa, constitute a major threat to its development which emanate from a number of issues which are social, economic and political. In the recent years, conflicts concerning governance have seen many African countries collapse in all directions. To resolve these conflicts many interventions have been adopted at local, national and regional level. Among these interventions peace committees 95

have proven to be useful conflict management instruments. However, at the same time, it is clear that there are very specific limitations on what they can achieve. Their impact also varies from context to context – even within the same country. In Sierra Leone for instance, the 2007 European Union Election Observation Mission concluded that the National and

District peace committees proved themselves to be an effective forum for addressing contentious issues. Their regular meetings acted as an efficient conflict management tool during the campaign period and successfully promoted reconciliation among political parties after clashes between their supporters in a number of areas including Kono, Kambia, and Kailahun and Bo districts.

Midgley (2000) makes references to the South African experience in order to demonstrate the kind of capacity Peace Committees require to have. The South African peace committees experience had a mixed record in conflict management, and a definite assessment of their success or failure is impossible. At one level, it may seem that Peace

Committees failed since their primary objective was to manage conflict as well as prevent violence. Yet, the number of deaths caused by political violence increased each successive year during the peace committees’ lifetime – from 2649 in 1992 to 3567 in 1994. This fact clearly demonstrates that peace committees could not enforce peace. However, more significantly, it is indicated that Peace Committees had successfully prevented many potentially violent events and had bolstered local dialogue and problem-solving processes.

Peace Committees were unable to end impunity on the part of the security forces, but they were able to help equalize the balance of power between those in power and ordinary citizens and to strengthen accountability. Their ability to address the underlying

causes of conflict was circumscribed, but even in the most violence-ridden areas, peace committees were able to promote conflict management and create a safe space within which problems could be discussed. Peace Committees were able to help South Africans take their first steps toward understanding the value of negotiations and how to engage in them constructively.

2.3 Theoretical Framework

This study, just as Akinyoade (2011) underscores the fact that theory is an attempt to explain a phenomena using terms more abstract than the terms used to describe the phenomena. In simple terms theory is a tool for explaining reality, and this serves two very important purposes; a) links philosophical foundations (ontology and epistemology) to empirical data; b) and explains the relationship that a given phenomenon has with other phenomena. In this regard, this study reads and adopts its discussions on three theories that is structural functionalism, social conflict and peace education theory. Structural functionalism theory looks at society in the lenses of Talcot Parsons, as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.

Structural functionalism generally and most significantly understands the communities from a Universalist perspective focusing on the social structures that shape society in totality and asserting what Durkheim envisaged a society that evolves like organisms. This theory explains the presence and relevance of peace committees as part of the structures in which society invests and functions, indicating that peace, are not the individualistic objectives but the global and collective concern of human desires of good and ultimate persuasion (Staub:1999). Without negating the fact that individual concerns

make and grow the umbrella of the many desires expressed as standard tranquility, it is important to note that this theory places the burden of finding sustainable peace on the roles played by people living in a given society.

Peace committees, as they stand in the community provide a platform upon which people’s cultures can be employed in funding tolerance and in the process finding peace across the community. Most importantly is the ability to identify and apply alternative dispute resolution mechanisms that resonate not only with people’s conscious, but by their way of life too. Against this background, this theory supports Shwartz’s (2007) proposal that cultures are a significant expression of coherence despite the agreed levels of diversity.

The theory of structural functionalism preserves the connection between social structure and social functions thus compartmentalizing the constituent elements as informing the sanity of each other. Namely these include norms, customs, traditions and institutions, as was popularized by Herbert Spencer, as parts (organs) of society that work towards the proper functioning of the body as a whole. Therefore, Shwartz’s assertion that communities’ incoherence could be a product of their own societal dysfunction finds home in this theory and provides the peace committees a justification of relevance in transforming conflicts in to sustainable peace.

The second theory is the social conflict theory. It belongs to the classical or macro theories which observe group phenomena in order to study a problem in depth and determine the importance and relationships of many variables rather than using few variables for many cases (Akinyaode: 2011). Simply put, these theories look at group interactions. The major and controversial occupation in this theory is the exercise of power

and the use of force in inter-group relations. It is noted that there can be many forms of power and this may include economic, political, military and cultural. This theory argues that conflict is a process of group formation and differentiation, particularly focusing on role that mirrors mis(perceptions), stereotyping and dehumanization play in decision making thus leading to violent conflict.

The centrality of this theory resonates well with the concern of this thesis, which assumes thus that roots of conflicts stem from group competition and the pursuit of power and resources. The conflict situation in Migori County has a direct relation with the communities struggling to access resources and power to safe guard such resources in their possession, but prominently in an environment that is materially driven or oriented.

Peace education theory complements this study because peace committee is majorly concerned with integration of human society through arbitration, capacity building, dialogue, reconciliation and problem solving. The peace committees consists of people who are conversant with the situation at hand and are able to handle the issues because they know parties, actors and effects involved, they are involved with the community even at the grass root levels thus making them very crucial in the process of peace building. In this case the cultural violence can socially be related to the ethnic identities that exist in the society.

In the Kenyan societies most of the conflicts that have been witnessed are attributed to ethnicity. This ethnic group’s fight for resources which in most cases are land and livestock .At times the fights are politically instigated where by the leaders are indirectly involved. They incite people to fight so as to gain politically. Violence normally occurs

because of the structures that are there which are not good and the actors merely carry out that violence. This study conclusively raps together the three theories which explain the entrenchment of conflict(s) among communities, further ascribing possible premise for dysfunction and eventually the providing strategies to dispose of the incoherencies in communities in scaling down or eradicating conflicts by way of peace committees.

2.4 Knowledge Gap

There is no doubt from the literature reviewed particularly about Kenyan conflict and peace building continuum, as Oyugi (2000) asserts that the county lacks fundamental legal and policy framework that can enable it confront issues of conflicts that tend to be geographic, thematic or ethnic in nature. This study therefore is an attempt to revive the urgency to put in place a relevant national legal structure which can aid in the development of a responsive conflict transformation system. It is noted that after the post-election violence a number of institutions were established including the Independent Electoral and

Boundaries Commission, National Cohesion and Integration Commission, Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission and the Commission on the Implementation of the

Constitution (COE), as a means towards sustainable social relationships in the country. It is in view of these circumstances that this study becomes a proponent of the National Peace

Building Policy 2006.

Further, this study responds to the fact that conflicts can be exacerbated by the presence of high insecurity levels (Marwa, 2012) which is a common phenomenon among the pastoralist communities in Kenya. Therefore, the emergence of vigilante groups like the Chinkororo, Amachuma, Sungusungu and Itongo, calls for the review of the Penal Code

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(Cap 63) and Stock and Produce Theft Act (Cap 355) of the laws of Kenya. This study provides an opportunity to define cattle raiding in a manner that prescribes the most appropriate punishment whenever if this is given the lenses of a crime. Currently the penal code looks at cattle raiding as stock theft, and not as a felony but a misdemeanour, thus lessening the possible. This discussion mirrors the role of the law enforcement agencies and submits that without a reliable legal environment that may include a more effective policy on community policing providing space for the community members’ participation, there would be difficulty in transcending the conflict-peace building spectrum. Therefore, this study is an opportunity to generate information and open up practice from other nations who have travelled a similar road to stability and sustainable community relationships.

Commercial livestock trading in cattle is a lucrative investment that has in it cartels that aim at maintaining a market grip both locally and internationally according to KHRC

(2014). In this regard, the study sought to fill the gap that may necessarily have been ignored by the Stock and Produce Theft Act (Cap 355) and therefore endeavoured to generate data and information that could be employed by policy makers who should regulate such trade in Kenya. This, however, may have very minimum impact if the dynamics of cross borders are not factored in particularly the Kuria community that has kith and kin on the other side of Tanzania, making this an international cattle trafficking corridor. This is considered on the backdrop of the fact that Tanzania has been a very reluctant player in executing the agreements between the East African Community.

Is conflict among the Kuria a sign of a failed social system? As Bujra (2004) and

Kamenju (2003) may assert conflicts in Africa are a consequence of inadequacies between

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groups at the economic, social and political sphere. This leads the researcher to the second question; are the conflicts in Kuria a demonstration of an economic system gone mad, and eating up its own drivers? This may be a question of different dimensions of what amounts to points of conflict. However reading Binswagger (1999) who looks at conflict from the perspective of losers and winners, the researcher observes that this study may provide the relevant eye opener in understanding how uncontrolled economic activities can affect the wellbeing of a community, once looters engineer the dysfunction of any given society.

Therefore this is an opportunity for this study to generate knowledge that can be used to make disarmament programs in Kenya more meaningful to conflicting communities.

Conflict handling mechanisms that are locally owned is an aspect that peace committees provide to the otherwise absent public in conflict transformation processes.

Kuria, particularly because some of those pastoralist communities carry a lot of faith in

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their local conflict handling institutions like the council of elders. This study provides a discourse in the academia to generate strategies that can allow participation of youth, women and people living with disabilities who, previously were either ignored or never consulted.

Conflict transformation and peace building processes are very exorbitant exercises.

Kuria, as stakeholder consultation stands out as a major area of learning.

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the alternative dispute resolution mechanism found amongst the Kuria community with view of finding the interphase between such indigenous methods and mainstream judicial processes to the suffocation of conflicts, without disregarding issues of human rights for those affected by conflicts.

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CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.0 Overview

This chapter presents the description of the location of the study site, research design, study population, sampling strategy, and data collection instruments and data analysis. It also includes validity and reliability of instruments, limitations of the study and ethical considerations.

3.1 Research Design

A research design is the plan, structure of investigation conceived to obtain answers to research questions that includes an outline of the research work from hypothesis, methods and procedures for collecting and analysing data and presenting the results in a form that can be understood by all (Mugenda and Mugenda, 2003). This study employed a case study research design. This is because the study intended to obtain an in depth understanding on the peace committees and conflict management in Kuria region, Migori

County. The case study research design allowed the study to collect in depth data from the respondents using research instruments such questionnaires and interview schedules which gave a detailed account of the role of peace committees in conflict management. According to Orodho (2003) case studies are used in exploratory studies to allow the study to gather information, summarize, present and to be interpreted.

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3.2 Study Area

The Kuria are part of the pastoralist heritage in Africa Flesher (2000) notes that they are semi-nomadic and reside on the south western part of Kenya, as well as the northern part of Tanzania. With an estimated population of 256,086 (Census, 2009) in

Kenya, they live among the Luo, the Kisii and the Masai as the most immediate neighboring communities, although the Luhya can be found further west. They occupy the region adjacent to Lake Victoria and neighbors the country of Tanzania, where some of the community members wholly reside. The Kuria currently are residents of Migori County in

Kuria West and East sub-counties where they inhabit twelve wards, including ; Ikerege

Ward, Isibania Ward, Mokerero Ward, Masaba Ward, Tagare Ward, Komosoko Ward,

Getambwega Ward; Kuria East is divided into Ntimaru East, Ntimaru West, Nyabasi West and Nyabasi East.

The study focused on this particular sub counties in Migori owing to the frequency of conflicts in the region, but particularly because they majorly affected one community, the Kuria. Reading literature from other pastoralist regions, the most common conflicts pit one ethnic group against another, but the case of Kuria provides interesting insights, which drew lessons on how best to handle trophies of cattle rustling. Secondly the inter-clan rivalry represented the researcher with an opportunity to understand how this played out in the presence of other factors considering that the Kuria people had similar cultural orientations.

Lastly in an attempt to reduce the effects of conflict in the region a number of efforts or interventions have been tried and establishment of peace committees has been part of 106

this heritage. The opportunities that have been created by these moves and the challenges experienced in the process provides an interesting foundation of addressing intractable conflicts in any given region.

Source: (Migori County Development Plan, 2014)

Figure 1: Kuria Administrative Boundaries, Migori County, Kenya

3.3 Target Population

The target population according to Burns and Groves (1997: 236) is the entire set of units for which the study data are to be used to make inferences. Thus, the target population defines those units for which the findings of the study are meant to generalize.

Target populations must be specifically defined, as Orodho (2003) asserts, as their definition determines whether sampled cases are eligible or ineligible for a study. In this 107

study the target population is 256,086 being the adult population in Kuria East and West sub-counties.

3.4 Sample Size and Sampling Procedure

Sampling is a procedure of selecting a part of population on which research can be conducted, which ensures that conclusions from the study can be generalized to the entire population. While a sample in a research study refers to any group from which information is obtained. To obtain a sample size there are factors to be put into consideration such as type of research design, method of data analysis and the size of the accessible population.

According to Mugenda & Mugenda (2003) a sample should be representative of the study area. This technique is used when representatives from each subgroup within the population need to be represented in the sample.

A representative sample size with known confidence and risk levels of 95% and

.05% respectively was selected, based on the work of Yamane (1967:258).

Where n is the sample size, N is the population size, and e is the level of precision.

Therefore, n = 256,086 1 + 256,086(0.05)2 n = 399

Purposive sampling is non probability sampling technique where units are investigated based on judgement of the researcher. The main goal of purposive sampling was to focus 108

on particular characteristics of a population that were of interest and which best enabled the researcher answer research questions. Particularly the researcher picked the maximum variation sampling, also known as heterogeneous sampling in order to gain greater insights into a phenomenon by looking at it from all angles. This aided the researcher to identify common themes that were evident across the sample. In this context, as Oso and Onon

(2009) intone each member of the target population stands an equal and independent chance to be included in the sample.

3.5 Data Collection Instruments

This section describes collection of primary and secondary data. Triangulation which is the use of different methods to obtain different but complementary data on the same topic (Robson (2002), was appropriate for this study. Different sets of instruments were used to collect primary data, and this comprised of questionnaires, interview schedules, and observation score sheets. To further investigate what would have been collected from independent interviews, the study undertook 3 Focused Group Discussions

(FGDs). The combination of data collection tools was selected affording the investigator an in-depth understanding of the nature and extent of the problem. The study utilized questionnaires, interview guides as well as check lists for observation. The researcher used informant interview schedules for the key informants.

3.5.1 Primary Data

Primary data was collected using questionnaires; face-to-face oral interview schedules; FGD guides, and observation checklists as summarized in Table 3.Table 1: Data

Collection Instrument and Sampling Method

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Study Population /Unit Sampling Method Instruments of Data Appendix collection Peace committee members Purposive Questionnaire I sampling FGD Guide IV

Government officials (Deputy Census Interview Schedule II County Commissioners and assistant Deputy County commissioners) Other members of the Stratified Questionnaire III community purposive Interview Guide

Source: Research data (2014)

3.5.1.1 The questionnaire(s) Peace committees, members of the civil society movement in the regions, the

private sector or business community as well as the academia, all experience conflict

differently and the questionnaires required to generate data and information whose

reliability and near accuracy was paramount. In this context the questionnaires were

developed with a view of targeting specific opinion to aid in the computation through

frequent and largely prominent themes that constantly appeared throughout the interaction,

which meant that mathematical precaution be applied to safeguard this application from

any level of mediocrity, thus necessitating some sections of the questionnaires to be closed.

However, based on the frequency and prominence of certain themes, which may have

required follow up and further questioning, the questionnaires were left open in some

sections in order to deliver the most comprehensive responses. Looking at the number of

people who were to be sampled by the study, questionnaires offered the best stress free

approach to gathering data, as this required very minimal if any following up.

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3.5.1.2 Interview Schedules Prescott (2011) looks at an interview schedule as a set of questions prepared by an interviewer, with a view to guide a discussion for a particular subject, purposefully to gather more meaningful insight. These are usually employed in seeking to get detailed but more thematic information for a given subject. In this regard the study Government officials (Deputy County Commissioners and assistant Deputy County commissioners) responded to interview schedules.

3.5.1.3 Focused Group Discussions According to Rafael, Engel, Russell and Schutt (2009) looks at focused group discussions as the bringing together of individuals by the researcher for about one or two hours in seeking to get an in depth understanding of a particular subject. In this context the researcher held three focused group discussions of ten people in each session, in pursuant to the several themes that had emerged from the questionnaires. This aided in the triangulation process, thus making corroboration easier to manage within the very nascent stages of the study, and hence giving credit to the analytical results of the research.

3.5.1.4 .Observation checklist Taylor and Bogdan (1998) make case that observation is a method of collecting research data, by deliberately and scientifically recording results of the most prominent trends or behaviors. These observations are most of the time guided by a well thought out plan whose execution is systematic and very methodological, and often observes primary rules, which consciously make the research aware of the particular threads of information on a specific subject. It is made possible by the availability of an observation checklist, which in this case looked at the state of infrastructure with a view of observing the effect 111

of conflict on development over a period of many years. Once this data had been collected, it was categorized and coded which allowed for both qualitative and quantitative analysis.

3.5.2 Secondary Data

Secondary data was collected through library research on published and unpublished materials including books, reports, journals, internet, newspapers, bulletins, magazines, publications, public documentation. Secondary data was also obtained from collected, analyzed and documented data in the offices among various professionals. The researcher also used the official government records from the Government Administrative

Offices (County commissioners, Chiefs, and Assistant Chiefs).

3.6 Reliability and Validity of Data Instruments

An instrument is valid if it measures what it intends to assess (Nsubuga, 2000). To determine the validity, the instruments were given to experts in the department of research at the University and with the help of proposal supervisors for review. The validity of the research instruments was on face value, implying the researcher designed the appropriate instruments for data collection. This was checked by administering different data collection instruments to probe the same group of individuals

Reliability is the consistency of one’s measurement, or the degree to which an instrument measures the same way each time it is used under the same condition with the same subjects (Golofshani, 2003). and Glyn (2000) defines reliability as 'Accuracy or precision of a measuring instrument’. The questionnaire was administered twice at two different points in time during pre-test. This was used to assess the consistency of a test across time. Pre-testing of questionnaires in the field was used as a means of improving 112

the quality of questions before the main study was undertaken. Reliability assumes that there was no change in the quality or construct being measured. The results were found consistent and were taken as reliable for the study will be consistent then it shall be considered reliable. The researcher carried out a pilot study and pre-tested the tools for data collection so as to identify any predicament that would have jeopardized the study.

3.7 Ethical Considerations

Before going to the field, a research permit was obtained from Kisii University.

This enabled the researcher to go to selected places. The researcher approached the respondents through their head of institution or department, who then identified the respondents. The respondents were given assurance regarding the information collected which was to be kept and treated with strict confidence and strictly for academic purposes only. In this respect therefore, the researcher prepared questionnaires and interview guides with introductory information on confidentiality of information. The research assistants and the photographer were inducted on ethical considerations during the research period, and photographs were only taken with the permission of the respondents. Any information that revealed the identity of individuals who were subjects of the research were destroyed save for where individuals concerned consented in writing to its inclusion beforehand at the end of the research (Mugenda 2003)

3.7.1 Permission to conduct the study

Permission to conduct the study was obtained from Kisii University as the institution that hosted the researcher. Further, the researcher received a letter from the

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National Commission on Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) that particularly allowed for collection of data and information from the study area.

3.7.2 Respect for persons as autonomous individuals

Respect for persons is a basic human right in according to the Kenyan constitution under Article 28. In this case the study handled respondents as autonomous individuals with a right to make choices, of whether to participate or not participate in the research.

The researcher in practice for ascertaining the urgency of ensuring that respondents had a choice further reads Collins English Dictionary (1991:286) which defines Choice as “the act or an instance of choosing or selecting; the opportunity or power of choosing”. The decision is to be made without coercion. Respondents were allowed to act independently by giving their informed consent to participate in the study. In this study it was ensured that respondents gave informed.

3.7.3 Confidentiality and Anonymity

Confidentiality is “a basic ethical principle while anonymity is one way in which confidentiality is maintained. In able to do this the researcher undertook to preserve the fieldwork contract and contacts. It was therefore important and prudent that steps be taken to guarantee anonymity to those who directly offered information to the study. Particularly this involved protecting the identity of the individual by neither giving their name when presenting research results, nor including identifying details which may reveal their identity such as work place, personal characteristics and occupation as Corti (2000)

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asserted. In this study, anonymity was achieved by not putting names on the questionnaire.

The researcher at the end was able to link any information to any participant, through the use of pseudonyms, which made easier categorization.

3.8 Data Analysis and Presentation

This section shows the methods and approaches that the researcher employed in analysing data that was both quantitative and qualitative. Particularly the section highlights the use of coding, grouping of prominent subject areas together for progressive linking, and connecting ideas in to umbrella themes that flag out the objectives of the study. On another level the section addresses the means by which quantitative data was analysed which played an important role of corroborating narrative and the mathematical revelations as stated under 3.8.2.

3.8.1 Qualitative Data Analysis

The information that was received from focused group discussions, and interview schedules, was categorized on several subjects key to the research questions of the study.

Particularly they emphasized the general view of conflicts among the youth and women

(wearing gender lenses), the nature and types of conflicts prominent among the Kuria, the drivers of conflicts, the roles played by peace committees at different levels of conflict (pre violent stage, violent and post violent stages). After this, the several subjects were coded in order to generate umbrella (general) themes that spoke to the overriding goal of the study which was the contribution of peace committees in conflict transformation in Kenya and with regard to Kuria in Migori County.

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The umbrella themes were further organized in to concepts that tested the four objectives of the study by identifying salient themes, recurring ideas, language and patterns of belief that run repetitively between and across the respondents. This was then linked to the observations made by the researcher through the observation checklist in generating an analytical spectrum that valued relationships between study population and their environment. Just as Marshall (1955, p. 114) asserted, it was important the outcome of this process is integrated with entire data analysis.

3.8.2 Quantitative Data Analysis

After collection of data, editing, coding of similar themes based on research objectives, entry classification, tabulation and analysis was done. Statistical Package for

Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft Excel Statistical Packages were used in data analysis. Qualitative data was analysed by use of descriptive statistics to generate frequencies and percentages while quantitative data was analysed by use of inferential statistics to provide insight into the role Peace Committees in conflict management in Kuria region.

After obtaining the descriptive statistics by use of SPSS the same was presented in tables, the researcher used graphic presentation such as the use of bar graphs, tables, pie charts and bar charts to present the data, graphs, frequencies (f), percentages (%), means

(X), inferential statistics indicated in Verbal reports that arose during the research process were presented as direct quotations (Salkind, 2004)

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3.9 Limitations

While carrying out the study the following were the limitations. Insecurity in this part of the country was and remains a sensitive matter because of political ramifications that are related to the subject of study. The respondent, were reluctant to engage to the point that the researcher had to find opinion leaders in the community who aided him in gathering data bit in more protective environment. However, the peace committees were more than willing to participate as this portend to highlight some of the challenges they were faced with, and therefore an opportunity to share with relevant policy makers on the plight they have to circumvent in delivering their services.

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CHAPTER FOUR

FINDINGS, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS

4.0 Introduction

This chapter focuses on the study findings which looked at general demographics and how they related to the study objectives. The findings were a response to the research questions, which in turn gave thematic insights on the specific objectives. The section is divided in to four sections and each section addresses an objective, as follows; objective 1;

To establish the nature of conflicts prevalent among the Kuria is supported by findings in section 4.1-4.2; objective 2; To evaluate the role played by peace committees in conflict handling in Kenya; 4.3-4.6; and Objective 3; To establish the challenges encountered by peace committees and Objective 4; To examine policy gaps and inadequacies that hinder peace building initiatives in Kenya 4.7

4.1 Demographic Characteristics

This section concerns the respondents’ age, gender, age and religion, which gave the researcher insights on how people of different ages and gender look at conflicts. It was observed that most people due to their age, gender and religion, they tended to interpret peace differently and were likely to give diverse perspectives regarding a number of issues in the same breadth.

4.1.1 Respondents’ Gender

Out of the 399 respondents reached 128 were women and 271 men. The fact that men were more conspicuous and available to respond to the researcher’s interviews, was an indication that women in the Kuria Community are still faced with challenges emanating 118

from their “gender-ness.” According to other studies particularly the Ondieki (2013), women among the Kuria have very little space to express themselves and culturally they have been relegated to the periphery of decision making processes. Therefore the imbalance by this study could easily be attributed to a number of factors including and not limited to; the strong patriarchal practices where women’s voice was still suppressed and even where it was loud very little attention was paid to it. This can be compared to the work of Kjerland (1998), who strongly described women as subordinate to manly oriented structures that left no space for women’s participation in clan events.

The issue of gender was particularly important because many scholars have alleged that conflict in most occasions has been given a masculine face and hence blinds policy makers in generating relevant legal and program interventions as affirmed by Steinberg

(1993, whenever sustainable solutions are sought. Secondly men and women were affected differently by the conflicts, and therefore hold diverse opinion on what a sustainable peace solution can be. Kratil (2000) does indicate that women’s opinion that is preserved by the many faces they can wear like mothers and daughters of a society, plays an important role when developing mediation and reconciliation programmes and policies, as most of the time it considers the “original community” and the adopted as well particularly by marriage.

The findings in this study in regards to gender disparity is an addition to works of scholars like Ondieki (2010) who reveal that women in the Kuria community control very little space to qualify for autonomous acceptability as the society is greatly patriarchal. The importance of understanding gender dynamics in this study was to allocate women their

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respective role in conflicts but significantly the need to incorporate them in to peace building structures. Therefore the research under this particular finding provides a new learning by ascertaining that understanding gender disparities in pastoralist communities is an opportunity to create and allocate women their relevant space in conflict transformation and peace building. This finding informs the objective one and three where it interrogates the types of conflicts among the Kuria but demonstrates the space within the peace committees open to women’s occupation (see section 4.5.1.3)

Gender for Respondents

0% 0%

women 32%

Men 69%

Figure 2: Gender of the Respondents

4.1.2Respondents’ education level(s)

The study found that respondents had different education levels, where primary level were 132, secondary at 177, college- 57and Graduate (degree holders) at 33. It was noted that most University graduates occupied jobs considered high profile in the county, and formed the bulk of the Key Informants. In focused group discussions, the researcher

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found out that women with considerable levels of education, particularly those with secondary ad post-secondary exposure, tended to occupy formalized employment opportunities. This revelation indicated thus, that most people with formal employment faced very little of the clashes as most of the violence took place in rural settings where cattle was easy to access. The majority of these people with primary (34%) and secondary

(44%) education formed the majority members of local processes of any kind, whether funerals, celebrations and other events. Low levels on education amongst respondents reflected the real scenario as the education standards in the region of Kuria. In fact it was reminiscent of the fact that between 2001 and 2005, the average score of the Kenya

Certificate of Primary Education stood at 250 points out of a possible 500.

However, this could be attributed to the conflict scenario that is constant in some locations in the region, poor and retrogressive cultural practices like forced and early marriages, female genital mutilation that makes girls abscond the learning system quite early (Education Data Policy and Centre, 2007). The significance of ascertaining the education standards of the respondents was to allow the study to have the insight and stretch in regards the understanding of conflict transformation and peace building processes which were key to ascertaining the actions by the peace committees. A study by Gudrun and

Urdan (2011) indicates that the more educated a people are the lesser likelihood for engaging in unnecessary conflicts. Precisely Gudrun and Urdan argue that increased government spending in education can reduce people’s grievances, both directly, and indirectly through spurring economic development and social equality.

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Secondly increased education opportunities simply make it less attractive for young people to enlist as soldiers rather than pursuing a civilian career and lastly higher education attainment may promote a ‘culture of peace’ that encourages political participation and channels conflicts of interest through peaceful political institutions. The scenario depicted here below in figure 3 may be a glimpse of why conflicts among the Kuria is intractable as the education standards are quite low as affirmed by Omwancha (2012) and Boke (2013) who identify early pregnancies, forced marriages and strong cultural orientations as elements that keep away children from school.

Graduate 8.00%

College 14.00%

Education Standards

Secondary level 44.00%

Primary level 34.00%

Figure 3: Education levels of the respondents

4.1.3 Respondents’ Age

In drawing diverse understanding on conflict, peace building and including the effects on the various groups, the study grouped the respondents as belonging to one of the following ages; a) 18-28; b) 29-39 c) 40-50 and d) above 50. According to the study majority younger people in the study 18-28 accounted for 194 people, 29-39 for 150, 40-

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50 for 120 and above 50 for 88. The different age- groups provided varied understanding on issues of conflict, as the effects were also represented by different structures, economically, socially, culturally and politically. In the same vein interpretations of what peace means varies by the age and priorities of individuals looking at stages in life.

The revelations in the study as concerning the age resonated with work earlier done by Ajayi and Oluwafemi (2014) who, while looking at the methods of resolving conflicts in African societies, picked out age as a major factor in the exacerbation or reduction of conflict. This was due to different perceptions hence interpretations within the spectrum of conflict. Younger people tended to propagate what their seniors have proposed, although without sustainable solutions, conflicts become cyclic as young people lived to revenge for the inadequacies of their parents. In the Kuria community, the study pursued this issue further, and the findings indicated that 75% of the times, revenge rivalry between clans and ethnic groups revolved around unsettled scores passed over generations as can corroborated by Kosic and Tauber (2010).

This finding provided a new insight in understanding the cyclic nature of the violence experienced among the pastoralist Kuria community. However, older people the study revealed preferred more stable lives even when, if they held bitterness, their energies for physical engagement had waned, but remained to advise and plan violent executions as described in section 4.2.1.5. In this regard there was need therefore to initiate a generational debriefing where younger people could be de-cultured from the bondage of their fathers and forefathers and try to build a new foundation of sustained relationships between different communities and clans.

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35.00%

30.00%

25.00%

20.00% Percentages 15.00%

10.00%

5.00%

0.00% 18-28 29-39 40-50 Above 50

Figure 4: Respondents age groups

4.1.4 Religious status of the respondents

In seeking to ascertain the religious affiliations, the study sought to draw from the wisdom of different faiths, which have specific interpretations of what peace and conflict is. Every religion has the meaning and application of conflict as well as peace, and this was the relevance of establishing respondents’ religious affiliation(s). Hayness (2009) in a study that sought to understand the religious dynamics in the conflicts situations of

Mozambique, Nigeria and Cambodia concluded that religion is one rallying call for the identification of millions of people worldwide. Hayness argues that religion can both encourage conflict and build peace, reflecting growing evidence that religious forces can play a constructive role in helping to resolve conflicts. Religious individuals and faith- based organizations, as carriers of religious ideas, can play important roles; not only as a source of conflict but also as a tool for conflict resolution and peace-building, providing early warnings of conflict, good offices once conflict has erupted, and contributing to advocacy, mediation and reconciliation. Case studies tried in Mozambique, Nigeria and

Cambodia have shown higher levels of success in reconstructing social cohesion amongst

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groups that have experienced violence, which implied that presence or absence of violence made the role of religion more conspicuous.

Religious Affiliations of Respondents

Traditionalists 4% 5%

28% Catholics 33% Protestants 30% Muslims

Others (Hindu, Bahai and Sikhs)

Figure 5: Religious affiliations of the respondents

4.2 Nature of Conflict(s) Prominently Registered among the Kuria

70%

60%

50% Cattle raids 40% Inter clan Ethnic 30% Political 20% Religion Others 10%

0% Peace Youth Women Government Elders Committee Officers Members

Figure 6: Nature and type of conflicts in Kuria region

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The study findings between 54% and 63% of different groups of people, established that conflicts were predominantly caused by cattle raids, which in turn brought about inter-clan animosities thus escalating criminal activities in to a sub tribe war. It was also established that ethnic rivalries were quite low, or nonexistent, and where they emerged, the question of cattle raids was the likely cause. In looking at cattle raids, the issue of cross border relationships between the Kuria in Kenya and the Kuria of Tanzania arose. It was noted by a number of respondents, but the comment from one of the administrators of the Border area wrapped up these concerns;

“The relationship between the Kenyan Kuria and those of Tanzania has a double face to it. Sometimes they support each other in issues of cattle raid where similar clans offer hideouts for raiders, but also provide networks to transport stolen animals. However, this relationship takes a different turn when clans clash in either country and these animosities are extended here, which means that clans that were hitherto peaceful begin displaying the adversarial tendencies out of the imported animosities. The third level of this border issue(s) is where the Kuria go against neighboring communities like the Kipsigis, Luo, Masai and Kisii. They tend to shelter each other irrespective of the clan. This makes the question of border conflicts a bit complicated” (Oral Interview O.1, 2.07.2014). The question of political clashes was minimal at less than 10% and as experienced, this was mostly brought about by political leaders inciting or speaking ill of the other neighbor communities but specifically regarding issues of resource allocation and distribution. The study noted that political rivalry would only be present during periods of electioneering, and this was far removed from the known conflicts in the region, but only acted as an incitement. Following up this question of resources through Focused group discussions and Key informant interviews, the researcher sought to generate specific data and 75% of the respondents identified employment opportunities in mainstream government agencies or public service, distribution of basic services from the state and

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distribution of primary infrastructure like road network, schools, professional personnel in state agencies including teachers, nurses, doctors and so on, hospitals and many others as resources, that were skewed. It was evident however, that religious conflicts were totally absent, possibly due to low populations of other religions apart from Christianity and traditionalists. This could be linked to the presence of few numbers of other religious institutions, or directly be interpreted as a place where religious tolerance was at its best.

There were pockets of Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Baha’i but who are in the region for commercial interests (investments). In terms of cattle raids this revelation was in tandem with a study by Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC, 2014) that squarely identified ownership and trade in cattle as the most prominent pillar for conflict in Kuria, Migori

County.

On a larger scale, this reflect the Kenyan conflict profile as presented by ACLED

(2013) where issues of resources stood pronounced as factors informing consistent clashes between different communities. However, the study noted that this trend was prevalent on communities which are situated in resource areas where scarcity abound. Further, this study noted that resource issues which included food insecurity, tended to push communities to look for better pastures in regions occupied by their neighbours. This kind of pressure created more animosities between the Kuria, Kipsigis, Masai and the Luo. One respondent, a resident in Kuria East and of the Masai ethnicity had this to say;

“Hawa wa Kuria wako na tabia mbaya sana ya kupigana na majirani kwa vile wanataka kutafuta ng’ombe and mifugo wasiyo wao…hi imeleta taabu kubwa, mpaka sisi tunaishi kwa kuogopa”- This Kuria community has the habit of raiding their neighbours for cattle and other domestic animals and this has made us live in fear, especially people residing here (in Kuria) who are not indigenous”. (Oral Interview O.2, 5/07/2014)

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In order to understand the conflict trajectory among the Kuria in better light the study revealed that thematically animosities were attributed to 48% more times to a suppressed economic thus suffocating opportunities (a less flexible economy) that could accommodate most young people who, majority remain unemployed to date. Closely linked to this economic inadequacy, was the social cultural issues particularly the practice of cattle raiding, which stood at 35%. These two factors inform each other, cattle raids as had been observed by Odhiambo (2012) are a growing phenomenon due to the economic value attached to livestock trading both locally and regionally. This scenario provided young people with an economic activity where earning a living was easy to engage and required minimal if any standards of education. This was strengthened by the fact that 39% (see figure 8) of the youth is unemployed, there can never be any other better justification.

Thematic causes of conflicts

Economically causes 2% 12% Political causes

48% Social-cultural causes

35% Security inadequacies causes

3% Others

Figure 7: Thematic causes of conflicts in Kuria region

The situation of cattle raids and general insecurity in the region of Kuria was also ascribed to the availability of small arms and light weapons, though not widely spread made the conflicts or violence more vicious. Issues regarding lapses in security included 128

issues of poor enforcement of laws, non-prosecution of criminals, availability of small arms and light weapons and a community that found value in habouring criminals. These findings were supportive of the work of Marwa (2002) who suggested that in order to prescribe appropriate remedies to conflicts amongst the Kuria, there was need to factor in the contributions made by vigilantes including chinkororo, Amachuma and Sungusungu.

This explained the inter-phase of economic struggles, and the strong attachment to cultural practices, which aggravated conflicts in Kuria Sub County.

Having observed that there was a strong linkage between economic and socio- cultural drivers of this conflicts in Kuria, the researcher went further to interrogate the subsectors of the economy which made communities be drawn to violence. The findings as shown by figure 8 indicated that uncontained absence of livelihood opportunities, are causing high unemployment at 22%, which is an outcome of a limited formal economic space as well as a constricted informal economic space standing at 39%. Wepundi (2011) while seeking information on the reasons as to why young persons engaged in high criminal activities in the northern parts of Kenya found out that unemployment and poverty encouraged the youth to adopt quick and vicious measures that would enable them get a footing in life. Similarly the focused group discussions and the interviews by the many state and non-state actors revealed that young people in Kuria felt desperate being out of any formal or informal economy, thus becoming easy target for recruitment in to criminal activities, hence fueling the crisis.

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Economic/socio-cultural causes of conflicts

High Unemployment

5% 22% Limited formal and informal 16% economic space

Poor distribution of resources

18% Poor price distribution (low market value for 39% products/assets (like Cows) and homogenous practices Business controls

Figure 8: Economic/social-cultural causes of conflict in Kuria

Additional stress as the study discovered was brought about by the price distribution and variation of products (cattle) in the region due to oversupply and little demand within the region of Kuria, thus attracting cross border markets that offer better returns. Going back to the TJRC report (2013) these findings agree with the fact that

Nyanza region of Kenya has suffered economic marginalization, particularly the Kuria, who, according to a report by the National Coordinating Agency for Population and

Development (NCAPD), 49% of the district population in Kuria lives in absolute poverty, whereas a large percentage experience food poverty. The District Poverty Assessment

Report for the year 2000 identified the main factors that engender poverty in the district as rapid population growth, economic and environmental factors, HIV/AIDS and socio- cultural practices and attitudes such as polygamy. The findings confirm that even the cultural leanings of the community in terms of cattle raids is driven by lack of sustainable

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economic returns. This resonates with KHRC report (2014) on commercial livestock farming, which indicated the abuse of people’s socio-economic rights.

The issues of limited economic space for the people of Kuria is made worse by lapses in security. The findings revealed that there is a large population of young people who are unemployed at 61% (combining high unemployment at 22% and limited economic space at 39%) and suffer from insufficient technical and academic qualifications. The other security threatening issues like availability of small arms (11%), porous borders (8%) and poor enforcement of the law (13%) played in to the hands of desperate young men and women on an aggressive path to establish patterns of survival. Young people out of these circumstances become vulnerable to a number of things including being sucked in to criminal activities and also political hooliganism. They easily grow in to thugs or criminals for hire to the best or highest bidder, thus making the security instability a pillar of conflicts in the region. One of the young people who had reformed from a gang confirmed that youth were involved in criminal activities like cattle raids and house breaks due to lack of gainful economic engagement. He put it this way;

“Sisi vijana tuko na matatizo mengi sana. Hatuna kazi, ilihali wadogo wetu and wazazi wanataraji tuwasaidie. Itakuwaje, kuweza kuwapa usaidizi, nasisi wenyewe kujipanga kimaisha, ikiwa hatuna njia za kujikimu. Jami yatarajia kuwa utaweza kuoa, hata upate watoto, mbali hawapati kutambua kuwa bila mtaji, basi hakuna maono. Ningekusihi ulitilie maanani hili jambo”- Young people have many problems, they have no employment and yet parents and younger siblings expect to be given assistance. Young people also want to have a life where they get married and have children, but without economic stability at an individual level, it becomes very difficult to undertake such chores in the community. This leaves young people with no option but to get in to criminal activities.” (O.I 3, 18/07/2014)

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Security Related Issues

Availability of small arms and light weapons 11% 11% A constricted formal and informal 12% economy

8% Poor Enforcement of laws

45% 13% Porous borders/unmanned borders Slow Judicial remedial systems (Judiciary, NPS etc) Over stretched government response machinery

Figure 9: Security Related Conflict Issues

These findings depict a community thirsty for economic empowerment and guarantees. This revelation is similar to the establishment of the conservancies in the

Northern part of Kenya Including Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and fifteen other which managed, in partnership with communities to reduce consistent conflicts between the presence of natural resources proponents and the people for water, land and pasture (CDC,

2012). It is clear therefore that communities with lesser value in the economic space have insignificant affiliation and little allegiance to communal responsibility hence the loss of interest in the wellbeing of the region. This can also be found in Mumma (2012) who avowed that young people in 2007/2008 destroyed property with abandon due to their absence in the economic space.

During the Focused Group Discussions, respondents attributed high grade cattle rustling to availability of small automatic weapons in the region, which added to the already enough numbers of homemade guns. While responding to the question, does insecurity

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play a part in the ongoing conflict in Kuria, and contextualizing the role played by youth the respondent indicated that inadequate economic space for women and youth aggravated the already bad situation, it was revealed that 35% of the times women tend to support the wayward activities of their children specifically boys as some of the activities bring back butter to the table. 40% of the times women protect their sons and daughters from the law, whenever they are suspected to have been involved in criminal activities. The remaining part of the community of women remains indifferent to calls for young people to reform, for as long as their interest and basic needs are unmet.

Non commital 5%

Women not committed to know what young people do 21%

Women protecting youth from the law 39%

Women suporting wayward youth 35%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

4.2.1 Social-Cultural Issues of Conflict In looking at the socio-cultural issues according to the findings that support conflict among the Kuria, 45% is attributed to cattle rustling. During the informal discussions, the study found out that nonattendance of school to completion among young 133

people, especially girls exposes them to early marriages; however, it also provides the younger men with a drive to engage in cattle raiding in readiness to celebrate the presence of a “ripe population of young girls” ready to get married. In this context the respondents claimed that low education levels at a maximum of 28% and the attachment to retrogressive at 15% provided an opportunity whereby economic aspect of the conflict continue being amplified through cattle rustling and clan wars, which still emanate from the same inspiration(s).

Community members, peace committees and select government agents tried to explain the latitude of socio-cultural continuum, and the reiterated the fact that clan aggression, wealth creation through the practice of cattle raiding and the warrior culture encouraged the offensive and revengeful clashes for the ownership of the lucrative livestock trade. In fact clan clashes are an outcome of proffered aggression, protection or revenge measures but linked to generation of wealth (cattle ownership). Attachment to retrogressive cultures encourage heroism or warrior ideals particularly the action of raiding cattle for fun/or culture or marriage. Yet these practices are sustained by extremely low levels of education as well as limited exposure to other lifestyles from other people or communities.

However, It is important to note that communities that have low education as was suggested by Gudrun and Urdan (2011) tend to stick to their culture, even if retrogressive ones (very subjective opinion), and more likely to enter in to conflict and stay in it longer. As Omwancha (2012) observed, low levels of education in Kuria had reduced

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young people’s interpretation of issues to the boundaries of their region with little exposure to other cultures hence confined in conflicts.

Another youth (female) acknowledged that the position of young women is even more appalling, considering that the culture of the Kuria people has certain disadvantages towards them. In emphasizing that young people particularly women had no economic space completely, this is what she had to say;

Wasichana Katika hii jamii wanazo changamoto za aina mbalimbali. Ya kwanza, ni kwamba, lazima wekeketwe la sivyo hawakubaliki katika jamii. Jambo la pili, barubaru wa kike, kwa ukosefu wa ajira huuamua kuolewa mapema, ili kuweza kutafuta njia za kujikimu kimaisha. La tatu na ambalo ni la kuhuzunisha ni kwamba wasichana hulazimishwa ndoa wakiwa ngali wachanga, ilihali wametolewa katika njia za masomo.

Swali langu ni je, watapataje ajira ikiwa jamii yao imewafungia mambo ambayo yanafaa kuwafungulia njia? -“Young women have many challenges but I will only speak about three. First is that they must undergo circumcision (female), without which they are ostracized by the community. Secondly they are forced in to early and unsustainable marriages partly because of poverty and as a way of feeding the remaining other family members. And lastly they are removed from school, out of the education system for purposes sustaining retrogressive cultural practices at the expense of their future. My question is this, how will women become effective members of this community if they are shut out of most empowerment processes?” (O.I. 4, 18/07/2014)

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100% 12% 13% 15% 90% 18% 18% 80% 14% 10% 11% Low Exposure/learning from other 70% ethnic groups 9% 15% 60% Low education standards 50% 41% 36% 45% Heroism 40% 42% 41% 30% Attachment to retrogressive cultures 20% 28% 26% 21% 10% 18% 17% Cattle Rustling 0% Clan rivalry

Figure 10: Social-Cultural Issues of Conflicts

4.3 The Role of Peace Committees This section looks in to the roles played peace committees in Kuria region, particularly on what kind of response mechanism they employ whenever conflicts occur. However, it also address the main actors in conflicts within the region

4.3.1 Main actors in conflicts

In order to underscore the role played by peace committees in finding sustainable peace among the community of the Kuria, the study identified the main actors in the conflict-peace building trajectory in the region. It was revealed that conflicts run through the society in Kuria, although people experienced and shared it at different levels.

According to the findings, which were corroborated in FGDs, 58% of the violence is perpetrated by young people, mostly young men, with a few women involved. Older men, looking at the age of 40 and above though at only 17% were more involved in planning,

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organizing, and coordinating, which meant mobilization of resources and allocating logistical support.

“Tunatambua kwamba tamaduni zingine zimepitwa na wakati, lakini hizo ndizo zinatupa mikakati ya kutengeza Uchumi. Mbali na kwamba watu wanaumia wakati wa vita, kuna vile usipohusika wakati watu wameenda kutafuta mali, we hitengwa na jami, haswa wazee hukosa kukutambua kama mmoja wanyeji katika kijiji hutakacho”- We understand that some cultures are outlived by development. Although people suffer in the process of finding riches through cattle raids, those who do not get involved tend to be isolated from the rest of the community out of stigma. This position is very frustrating and makes most young people to get in to conflicts.” (O. I. 5, 18/07/2014) On the other hand, women and specifically those who are married from different clans, and young unmarried girls still attracting attention of bachelors played the role of spying, which the study could not ascertain in terms of frequency, but the 8% enumerated indicated that their support was more moral and psychological, locally referred to as

“amang’anaghakaa.” (This an expression in Kuria meaning that this is in house business)

The role of women according to some respondents included hiding of weapons and treating their men when hurt after their escapades. This discussion would not be complete without the presumed role of security agencies particularly the national police service. Respondents believed 13% of the security agencies are involved in the conflicts due to a number of reasons including corruption, ethnic interests and protection of business interests. These findings can be compared to conclusions arrived at by Pragya (2011) who noted that elders and women in the Northern part of Kenya (among the pastoralist Communities) tended to incite conflicts, but particularly elders organized and sanctioned larger raids. On the hand the youth would launch and sustain the physical assault culminating in to the cattle raids.

However, due to a shrinking economic engagement space for the youth and gains that come from cattle raids, young people are no longer seeking approval in order to 137

consolidate returns, rather than share and take less due to cultural limitations. The case of women carrying and hiding weapons on behalf of their communities especially husbands and sons has in the recent past been attributed to as one factor encouraging ethnic conflicts between the Turkana and the Pokot (Daily Nation). The role played by women in entrenching conflict, though subtle it is quite deadly, as can be attested by Opperman

(2014) who on revising the story of Afghanistan had this to say.

“Women in Afghanistan, for instance, not only feed insurgents provided with safe harbor in their compounds, they also protect critical information. During a raid on a compound in Kandahar province in 2011, for example, a female International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier discovered a veritable treasure trove of information concerning the insurgency while searching the compound’s female residents. The soldier noticed that the Afghan women in the “search” room were trying to surreptitiously pass an infant into the “cleared” room. Finding this behavior suspicious, she asked if she could hold the infant. Upon doing so, the soldier discovered that a hollowed-out Koran had been tucked into the infant’s swaddling. Inside the Koran, she found cell phones containing names and numbers of insurgents, hand-written lists of names, and other incriminating document” However, it has been noted that the commitment that women and the elderly have in initiating, maintaining and rebuilding peace is higher than that of younger people.

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0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3 Frequency 0.2

0.1

0 Youth Elderly men Women Law Others (young and enforcement (indirect old) agencies participants)

Figure 11: Actors in conflict

4.3.2 Composition of Peace Committees

The study revealed that peace committees have between ten to fifteen members representing different sectors of the society/community. Key is women, youth, people living with disability, a person from the private sector (business community), academic institutions, Nongovernmental organizations, security agency (usually a police officer commanding station), council of elders or any locally recognized structure of conflict transformation, a representative from the faith based institutions, victims of conflict whenever such is identified and a representation from the private security service providers amongst others. The chairperson of these Local Peace Committees is usually elected. The question to ask was whether this composition adds value to the purpose upon which Local

Peace Committees are established. In responding to this question one woman had this to say;

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“unajua sisi tunapata taabu kama hakuna mtu wakuelezea shida zetu katika mikutano….hi kikundi cha amani, kimetupa nafasiya kuzungumzia yaliyo mioyoni mwetu” “In our position we are usually faced with challenges when we seek to share our predicaments on issues of peace, therefore we appreciate the presence of local peace committee, as it has given us an opportunity to share our fears and expectation” (O.I, 6, 05/08/ 2014)

It was understood from the findings that 67% of the local communities preferred the presence of local peace committees for fear of being treated with respect in a conflict negotiation process by mainstream organs like the government. Secondly the study findings revealed that people/members of the public trusted information received from peace committees than the government. The state agencies have a bad reputation, as most failures regarding issues of security and conflict are associated by their poor response.

Holistic sector representation, as espoused by the peace committees therefore added value to people to people interaction schemes.

While this study appreciates the representation on the peace committee of “most community sectors,” there is the area of Private Security Providers (PSPs) that requires to be investigated further. The groups like Amachuma, Chinkororo and Sungusungu, have continued to cause havoc in the community as attested by Marwa (2012) and there is need that their contribution to conflict be established. This is a bit difficult as they are enlisted as outlawed vigilante groups, unlike on the international scene in war zones where international law is exercised out of the legal recognition of what private security providers can and cannot do, as demonstrated by Perin (2006).

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4.3.3 The role of peace committees in fostering community unity

Findings of the study indicated that the concept of peace committee is understood as a vehicle for addressing conflicts in the community. It was therefore found that most community members could largely relate them to direct conflict issues and no other facets of the society that were an off-shoot of peace, like improving economic wellbeing, not unless it assumed a protective face, it was not considered as service from peace committees. The study discovered that peace committees are associated to issues that directly related to conflict, security and liaison in the same vein.

Peace Committees were seen to reliable partners in collecting, conveying and retrieving important information for the larger community by as many as 290 people of the study population. This was made in comparison with the mainstream channels like chief’s barazas, school parents’ meetings, public meetings and general word of mouth, which unfortunately were not credible, thus making information from such sources unreliable. It was revealed that peace committees, though very thematic, had more comprehensive and traceable information. This was the most conspicuous service they offered both the citizens and the government officials. Notably as Badal (2013) reiterates, most government sponsored channels for sharing information have been affected by the negative image the state has suffered in some regions, of Nepal. Looking at the conflict situation in Nepal and the role of chief’s barazas, which are tainted by the long history of provincial administration that was closely linked to past atrocities in areas of conflicts.

On the point of addressing conflict, it was revealed by as many as 300 respondents that peace committees contributed to reduction and prevention of conflict in

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the region. This was contextualized by actions which included identifying potential conflict scenarios, families or clans embroiled in constant feuds, controversial resources and individuals and groups that are not economically and gainfully engaged. These activities acted as stop gap measure in resolving potential conflicts and thus reduced possibilities of violence among the community members. (See figure 12). These findings are closer to what Glowaki and Gonc (2013) discovered when ascertaining the specific duties that peace committees undertook in Ethiopia. The two authors found that role of mobilizing communities on common grounds towards developing consensus on an issue of significance to the community, thus avoiding unnecessary animosities.

Two hundred of the respondents affirmed that building trust in contemporary communities has remained a big challenge as the death of well-knit African communities increases due to immigration and other economic factors which have weakened the importance placed on extended families among the Kuria. Peace committees were credited with activities which enhanced trust across communities. Some of these activities comprised of organizing and coordinating funeral, fundraising, and wedding events amongst others without discriminating any member of the community. This is further strengthened by identifying and mentoring specific clan and family members to represent such clans when issues arise, hence creating an inclusive platform not just for sorting out problems but for breeding harmony at all times.

These findings can be supported by the propositions of Adan and Pkalya (2006) who affirmed that Peace committees in fostering community unity played a role in relaying relevant information across sectors and groups, consulted and appealed to warring factions

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to create cease fire or stop unnecessary aggression, and revenge, particularly emanating from the youth. Therefore, in terms of relationship building, the findings scored higher on the factors which promoted community solidarity, community safety and community harmony.

Security 300 250 200 Liaison between 150 civilians and 100 Building Trust government 50 0 Series 2

Economic well Addressing conflict being

Figure 12: Peace Committees contribution to community unity

4.3.4 Peace Committees and Conflict handling processes

The study on assessing the specific actions attributed to peace committees, with a view to establish how community safety and harmony were promoted, revealed that peace committees provided a platform of inclusivity, which operated with a considerable degree of openness and were widely accessible by the local communities. On representation peace committees scored extremely high, as 350 of the respondents out of 399 sample size affirmed that peace communities were as broad in representation as the issues they dealt.

In focused group discussions, it was mentioned that peace committees had established sub- locational fellowship(s) whose purpose is to appraise the state of cohesion in the villages,

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by assessing possible conflict situations and providing mitigation. Out of this process the feedback is sent to the peace committee for more inputs.

Major peace committee meetings were not exclusive and there was an opportunity to the ordinary person in the villages, not only to attend and listen but too contribute too. This aspect of the peace committee, which was the most interactive session in the community, with support from as many as 300 demonstrated the dependency that community had developed over time in regard to peace committees. The peace committees had demystified the exclusivity of peace meetings, by creating a forum in which all members, including women would walk in and share the views about problems facing them. These were different from the security meetings held under the county commissioner’s structures, which was closed and only open to a chosen and known few.

The impact of this was the reduction of gatekeepers in the community, who would hoard information that would otherwise be beneficial to the larger community, as Haider (1999) demonstrated.

As earlier mentioned in section 4.3.3 peace committees gathered and disseminated information in a manner consistent with demand from all sectors of the Kuria community. However, it was observed that information that was related to matters of insecurity formed the bulk of their work. Over 350 people acknowledged that peace committees had an archive of practices and lessons from previous conflict experiences, therefore a reference point to make consultations on resolving conflicts. Particularly the information about insecurity included factors and actors commonly found in that spectrum,

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like younger people, members of the vigilantes and the vulnerable sectors including women and children.

Of importance to this study was the fact peace committees were constantly seeking local solutions which may have been omitted or overlooked. Proposal for income generation activities, linkage to decentralized funds like Uwezo fund and women enterprise funds. Odendaal and Oliver (2009) assertively concurred with this study in the sense that peace committees in their own unique way (depending with circumstances of the conflict), provide room for dialogue, community organizing, problem solving and intelligence gathering as well as distribution with a view to inculcate reconciliation amongst warring factions.

PC Inclusive representation 350 300 250 200 Operate 150 PCs have regular transparently 100 meetings 50 0 Frequency

Gather & Make plans for distribute peace building and information on IGAs security

Figure 13: Peace Committees and Conflict handling processes

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4.3.5 Peace Committees and stakeholder engagement

Most respondents shared that peace committees must be at the forefront to enhance inclusivity in conflict handling processes, but must be demonstrated by their own operations. Failure to have inclusivity in the peace committees provided an indication for the possibility of Peace Committees not engaging in thematic consultation(s) and working towards expanding space for the voiceless. On the other hand lack of known programmes about building of capacities from the county to sub-location level and the sheer absence of continued training for the PC members was an insight on the inconsistencies that peace committees in terms of mobilizing community members towards consensus building on an issue of interest (peace related).

In considering stakeholder engagement, which refers to the levels of ownership of conflict transformation or peace building, these findings are similar to Haider (2009) who revealed that peace committees enhance the application of Community based approaches (CBA) where local communities (institution, groups etc) are empowered by giving them direct control over investment decisions, project planning, execution and monitoring, through a process that emphasizes inclusive participation and management.

The connection between Haider’s work and this study is the fact that peace committees advance what is known as demand led approaches, allowing communities to come up with interventions which respond to their own needs. Taking charge of these processes contributes to a sense of community ownership, which can contribute to the sustainability of interventions. The community based approach has been adopted in fragile and conflict affected, and this can also be adopted in Kuria.

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Inclusive Processes 400 350 300 250 200 Training for PC 150 Capacity Building Members 100 Programs 50 General Community Service 0 Conflict Address Services

Thematic Space for Voiceless Interaction(s)

Figure 14: Peace Committees and Stakeholder Engagement

4.4 Peace Committees and Peace Building Initiatives This section addresses how peace committee initiatives and sustain peace building activities in Kuria.

4.4.1 Peace Committees and Peace Practice

The findings of this study while looking at the specific actions executed by peace committees, revealed that most of the time the Peace Committees are involved in; monitoring the conflict scenario in places where such incidents are prominent; identifying conflict players and drawing intelligence about them; gathering information on the conflict issue and looking at the possible remedial scenario (scenario building); undertook mediation, negotiation and mobilization of warring parties and their supporters; and raising red flag on issues of human rights abuses. It is not lost to this study that other scholars have travelled this journey and come up with several findings. Among the many the work of

Jenneker and Cartwright (2005) stands out pronounced who suggested that peace

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committees, with reference to the South African experience revealed the different roles that peace committees undertook in creating an environment of peace. Some of this included intelligence gathering or research on specific dispute issue, continuous dialogue for progressive problem solving, inter-clan and community reconciliation.

4.4.2 Peace Committees and Conflict Prevention

The findings of the study revealed that peace committees undertook a number of initiatives that made them curtail violence among the Kuria people. The findings identified the following; gathering of information on issues of conflict(s) prevalent in a given region and developing possible solutions; identifying warring parties to a conflict and generating intelligence on them (parties to the conflict) report possible conflict scenario to the relevant government agencies; mobilize the parties to a table for dialogue; invite other interested parties to the table for discussions.

Peace Committes and conflict prevention

5% 8% 24%

Intelligence on conflicts 21% Intelligence on parties Conflict scenario building Invitation for dialogue 26% Space for stakeholders 16% Report to government

Figure 15: Peace Committees and Conflict Prevention

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Peace committees as the study established spent most of their rime gathering relevant intelligence on conflict issues and characteristics of the warring parties at 26% and

24% respectively, thus providing ample grounds upon which an early warning system can be established. This finding coincide with United Nations (2009) study where it was affirmed that availability of relevant information on conflict and parties to the conflict determines and quickens the response to avert emergence of violence. This assertion as the findings revealed can be related to the scenario building exercises undertaken by the peace committees, necessitating engagement in to dialogue, thus allowing for inclusion of government and other stakeholders in a way that demonstrates “the totality of a community suffering in solidarity rather than the selfish and myopic inward looking perspectives of most conflicting parties.”

The most important part of this finding is the manner in which the various activities are put in to use in order to prevent conflict from happening, or escalating. In this regard the study reads from the work presented by Klopp (2010), who cited the linkages of peace committees to local dispute resolution institutions like council of elders, youth leadership and women, making them (Peace Committees) a bridge that aids in putting together local agreements and action plans allowing for informed scenario building and mapping out of possible outcomes.

4.4.3 Peace Committees and violent crisis

In this study, the findings indicated that during violence peace committees played an important role owing to the acceptability and recognition they enjoy at the grassroots. It was found that peace committees largely enable delivery of emergency

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services during crisis; they provide logistical support for secure transportation of emergency supplies; in some areas they provide or arrange for trauma management

(support) amongst victims; undertook or provided leadership on matters of evacuation amongst others. Peace committees are at the center of any crisis, more so where animosities scale down service delivery by humanitarian constituency. Peace committees are well received at the grassroots and therefore have a reliable credibility which appeals to groups to allow for supplies to victims of violence whenever such unfortunate events take place.

0.3 27% 23% 0.25 19% 0.2 14% 0.15 11% 0.1 6% 0.05 0 Frequency

Figure 16: Peace Committees and violent conflict

Looking at the service delivery at 19%, securing logistical lines like roads at

23% and coordinating supplies at 27%, the study reveals the significance of a peace committee in a region where there is conflict, as it hastens faster and more inclusive ways of addressing conflict(s). These findings resonate well with what Beyna, Michael, Stacy,

Stacks, Tuthill and Vondal (2001) alluded to in their research that looked at peace building approaches in the Horn of Africa. Beyna, asserted that peace committees, if well-handled

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accumulated such massive credibility that during crisis, they enjoyed some privileges which ordinary person couldn’t. One of the Key informants equated these peace committees to “a small United Nations.”

4.4.4 Peace Committees and Conflict Transformation

The findings of this study emphasized the bigger role peace committees play in conflict transformation by providing an amiable environment in which effective dialogue takes place. It was observed and corroborated from the focused group discussions that peace committees, undertook diverse initiatives depending on the nature and circumstances of the problem including; mobilization of people to dialogue table; leadership in mediation and negotiation; problem solving; post conflict goodwill actions like disarmament, counseling, reintegration and mentoring amongst others; creation and maintenance of peace dividend events.

It was revealed that communities (parties) to a conflict 72% of the times responded positively to calls by the peace committees, and were not treated with suspicion.

Their multi-stakeholder representation provided an opportunity for open discussion and this mirrored credibility amongst the warring parties but in terms of legitimacy

(acceptability) it did expand or spread the risk involved in the conflict making the sense of a bigger loss than just that of the parties involved directly. Buchannan and Olaa (2013) bring forth the argument that women previously were never considered as major players in sustaining conflict transformation whenever communities differed violently. This partly was because the societies were extremely patriarchal or simply out of apathy from women themselves.

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Buchannnan and Olaa make known the changes being experienced due to the presence of peace committees, where previously the marginalized would have no voice; the peace committees have provided the platform for doing so. In the case of Karamoja,

Uganda, women have since recognized the fact they play a key role in entrenching conflict, and in the same measure, required to reverse their activities like blessing men before raids, feeding them after successful raids and hiding the weapons on their behalf even if disarmament is executed, men and guns remain safe in the safety nets designed by their women.

To be more precise the study findings support work done by FAO and

RECONCILE (2012) where it was established that peace committees, in trying to scale down the effect of conflicts between the Borana, Gunji and Konso, undertook several actions that included capacity building, civic education, organized exchange visits and mobilization of community support over issues of universal benefit to the warring parties.

Mobilization 100% 80% 60% 40% Peace dividends Problem solving Rating the action (external) 20% 0% Rating the action (Internal lenses)

Mediation & Post conflict Negotiation

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Figure 17: Peace Committees and Conflict Transformation

4.4.5 Peace Committees and Resilience building The findings of the study indicated that peace committees to a great extent aided in the building and sustenance of resilience among the Kuria through a number of Activities as shown in figure 18. Mostly peace committees spent their time training community members on a number of issues that included tolerance, sharing of resources, and advocacy for common good on issues of governance and so on.

However, this highly felt by the young persons and elderly who had time on their hands to attend to events away from home, unlike most women, who would only benefit from events executed near their homes. This marries well with what Lederach’s

(1997) conflict transformation lenses where the process that ultimately leads to peace, through an environment where theory of conflict moves in to theory of conflict-in-context thus enabling creation of new relationships capturing background perspectives like culture, governance arrangements, social roles, norms, place of law and development paths in a society.

In this context the study revealed through focused group discussion that peace committees played a role in building resilience of communities through a number of ways; they undertook building of capacities where exposure is given for various aspects of conflict handling and peace building structures acceptable and alive to the communities involved; created awareness and sensitized communities through fora like chief baraza(s), parents an teachers’ meetings, and through distribution of relevant publications;

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encouraged and instituted exposure visits to other regions where conflicts have successfully been handled and harmony restored and making conflict handling structures vibrant; mainstreaming the rule of law in alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

Resilience building in the community

100% 1% 8% 90% 80% 34% 15% 9% 70% 50% 60% 10% 32% 50% 40% 60% 36% 30% 45% 20% 40% 35% 10% 10% 14% 0% Youth Women Elderly People living with County disability administration

Training Awareness Creation Mobilization loca resources not sure

: Activities for resilience building in the community

The study by FAO and RECONCILE (2012) offered a lot of value, as it captured some of the resilience mechanisms that community engaged in sustaining a peaceful co-existence among warring communities. Focusing on the Borana, Rendile,

Smaburu and Somali, their study revealed that peace committees undertook awareness raising and sensitization to the rule of law, as well as linking traditional conflict transformation structure with the Judicial justice system, in order that what is outside their mandate than can find an appropriate response. One elder stated thus

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“hawa watu hawachoki kusemanasi, kila siku wanatukunmbusha athari ya vurugu na migongano…sisi ndiyo labda hatusikilizi vizuri. Hapana mkutano nimehudhuria nanisimpate mtu wa amani akihubiri…" Translation of the elder’s perspective on peace committees’ work in the region; “These peace loving people do not tire talking to us on the negative effects of conflict. Each and every meeting I have attended in this community, I would usually find someone at least talking about peaceful co-existence, its only unfortunate that we do not listen till things get out of hand” (O.I ,7 05/08/ 2014)

4.5 How Peace Committees Contributed Directly to Peace Building The question that this study responded to was whether the actions by peace committees enhanced peace building measures in the region, and if so to what extend and in which way. The second question was whether the actions of peace committees were any different from those of other actors, and if so what was the effect? Lastly was whether the peace committees in their current set up operated optimally?

4.5.1 Peace Committees and Social Structures It was important to interrogate if peace committees strengthened social structures in the community quest for harmony. It was found that peace committees had identified and recognized the different roles by stakeholders in the community. Key to this realization were; reviving the role played by council of elders; spearheading expansion of interaction space for the youth; emphasis on making women’s role more vocal, active and acceptable (role modeling, counseling and experience sharing). These outcomes can make reference to the information from Buchannan and Olaa (2013), who recognized that peace committees had actually opened an expanded engagement platform for women in Uganda’s

Karamoja area.

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4.5.1.1 The Council of Elders The Kuria Community is extremely patriarchal and the significance of elders cannot be gainsaid in dealing with issues of peace building. 67% of the respondent indicated that the presence of the peace committees had revived the interests and vibrancy of the “Injama” (council of elders) placing them centrally on matters of conflict transformation and peace building. Most respondents (73%) believed that working with council of elders had given the peace committees more face and encouraged acceptability amongst the people of Kuria, making peace a community agenda (in the words of a woman respondent Mrs. Phoebe Chacha a chairperson of women’s group; “working with the council of elders and some of us has reduced suspicion that this could be a selfish agenda of particular people in this community”

The purpose of partnering with council of elders had commenced attitudinal change among the Kuria people thus building interest in a problem previously left to the interventions of the mainstream government agencies, particularly the now defunct provincial administration. The findings corroborate what Shetler (2007) refers to as the powerful influence of the estate of elders in the Kuria Community, where young people were agents of force and not controllers of it. Where council of elders (Injama) provided leadership and decisions that created coherence in the community. Inter clan wrangles had reduced in accordance with the findings considerably by about 37% due to involvement of the elders.

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Support for Peace Committees and Injama

14%

21% 13%

28%

15%

37%

Reduced clan wars Reduced land feuds Reduced insecurity Reduced Inter ethnic clashes Reduced practice of cattle raids

4.5.1.2 Formation of youth mentorship programmes Findings, especially from the focused group discussions indicated that peace committees had heightened the use of formation of youth groups and linking them to mainstream processes like the youth enterprise fund and the Uwezo fund. In fact the peace committees in accordance with feedback from the civil society organizations had established thematic relationships with the private sector, civil society and public service in a bid to build capacities and mentor the young people on matters of business management, talent development and peer coaching. One youthful respondent had this to say;

Hawa watu wa peace committee wamejaribu kutujenga sana, kwa masomo ya kuandika business plans, nakutuonyesha jinsi ya kutumia pesa vizuri. Lakini jambo la kuridhisha sana, ni vile walitukumbusha kuwa tukiharibu Kuria, nisisi tunaumia, juu hapa nikwetu”

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Translation of the youth’s view on peace committees, “The Peace Committee members have partnered with us and created links to other sectors allowing us access to more services. What has stood out for me is the constant reminder and caution from them that if we destroyed Kuria, it is us who will suffer the consequences, as this is where we were born and bred.” (O.I. 8, 05/08 2014) The findings of this study under the youth mentorship initiatives which takes consideration of young people afflicted by a retrogressive culture and sucked in to criminal activities for purposes of belonging and secondly to secure their “right place” in the community. The activities for mentorship which include sports can be supported by a study by Hartman and Depro (2006) who acknowledged that, the most effective approach to reducing youth crime is to steer young people away from negative social activities before they become involved in criminal activities. This revelation was made as a way of reducing the punitive approach used in trying to disinterest young people from crime. However, the circumstances catered for by the study of Hartman and Depro like many others revolve around urban crime, and rural areas but where culture is loosely practiced or not binding altogether. This finding call for the further research in this area, where a researcher may seek to ask, would mentorship for young people in strong cultures like the Kuria community have similar effects as those proposed by Hartman?

4.5.1.3 Making Women’s Contribution Significant Women in the Kuria community are still faced with a lot of challenges due to very deeply entrenched patriarchal practices and cultures. This according to Suda (2005) has reduced their participation in conflict handling and peace building as well. What this study was interested in was the way conflict affected women and children, and it was therefore important to read what kind of contributions women were capable of making. It was found that 59% of the respondent acknowledged that women were now more involved

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in matters of peace building through the thematic consultations initiated and moderated by peace committees. Some of the reasons given for this development included; a) the availability of an amiable environment where women expressed themselves freely without fear for intimidation; b) guarantee (assurances) that information shared is in confidence and no victimization. Oywa (2010) noted that the contribution of women to peace building can best be captured by what was said by former Secretary General of the United Nations,

Kofi Annan who stated;

“For generations, women have served as peace educators, both in their families

and in their societies. They have proved instrumental in building bridges rather

than walls”

However, the study also noted that while women would have sought to invest heavily in the peace building process, they still faced a number of challenges which were mostly culturally oriented. One of the elderly women had this to say in demonstrating their difficult position;

“Akina mama katika hii jami bado wana matatizo ya kuhusishwa kwenya mijadala ya kuleta Amani. Sababu kuu, ya changagmoto hii, yatokana na tamaduni za wa Kuria ambazo hazikuwakubali wanawake kuhusika kwa wazi wazi. Watu wajunsia ya kike, huchukuliwa kama kukosa heshima, ikiwa wataonekana wakiyajadili mambo ambayo ni shughuli ya wazee”- “women in this community are faced with a lot of challenges and are not involved in discussions that aim at creating peace. This is largely because of the cultural practice that has not created space for women, particularly the position taken by men, who look at expressive women as lacking in respect of the community interactions, a practice that has made them subservient in most community functions.” (O.I, 9. 05/08/ 2014). The awarding of the Nobel Prize in 2011 to Sirleaf Johnson, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman was a demonstration by the world that women’s role in peace building had reached the apex of human interactions. In addressing the issue of Northern 159

Uganda and South Sudan, Oywa (2010) flags out the position of women and children positively away from the victim-villain axis that often are portrayed by most scholars. In recognition of the women’s contribution through the peace committees as being significant as it brings out the gender perspective of conflicts in the region, the study demonstrated that peace building and conflict transformation structures in the Kuria community have very little space for women, and there is need therefore for a more inclusive approach, including and not limited to a stakeholder platform.

4.5.1.4 Peace Committees and Place of Religion The peace committees in Kuria have created an interactive space for interfaith conversations in the region. These conversations have made religious institution get involved in community reconciliation processes, thus adding value to the national discourse. Particular role is the confessions mad to religious leaders about community involvement/participation in the conflict scenario, which is a step towards developing an environment or atmosphere in which people discuss openly on what ails their communities.

Significant to this development is also the process of documenting forms and state of violence in Kuria, thus reconstructing the history of the conflict in the lenses of the local people. In fact according to one religious leader, peace committees had emboldened religious institutions to discuss conflict issues openly, thus making it a major concern in the community. Particularly religious institutions had infused their sermons in trying to discourage the community from retrogressive cultural practices of FGM, early and forced marriages, and shutting out women from regional development. In demonstrating this a church pastor of the Deliverance Church had this to say;

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Churches have become a very strong voice in campaigning against bad cultures that tend to look down upon women, girls and also those that encourage boys to get in to criminal activities like cattle raiding. We have as a church commenced a program of youth and women empowerment where issues are discussed openly. Important though is the fact these platform in the church have become experience sharing engagements and peer to peer learning is promoted. All these is done with the guide of the scriptures which advance the need to build a cohesive community, as is expected in the eyes of the Lord” (O.I 10, 05/08/ 2014) Peace committees, with or without challenges have come of age and by expanding the interactive space for different groups in the society, they have progressively entrenched the social dialogue approach to issues of conflict transformation and peace building. There is no doubt as was asserted by European Union (2006), that social dialogue programmes have funded peace building at two levels; a) strategic level where the process targets middle level leaders of society including politicians, journalists, the academia and municipal leaders. The main purpose is to facilitate negotiations with communities for services which reduce areas of disagreements or controversy; b) grassroots level, which supports community dialogue and targets local people such as teachers, civic bodies, young people and women amongst others. The objective of the dialogue is to help participants to express their feelings and emotions about the conflict and to learn from the perspectives of the other communities. With this background, it is the position of the researcher that peace committees have excelled, save for the challenges that this thesis provides insight in section

4.7 of this chapter.

4.6 Peace Committees and Economic Prosperity The study sought to examine the effects of the peace committee on the overall state of the economy within the region of Kuria. Having established the economic factors played a big role in making this conflict difficult to sort out. The study affirmed that by reducing conflicts and particularly violence, the peace committees amongst other players 161

were expanding the space for transactions of all kind. It was realized that out of reduced conflicts the following took place; increased time in working on land for agricultural production; shopping centers operating beyond safe hours thus increasing revenue collection; most community members finding time to meet and discuss joint activities; more products reaching markets for sale, due to reduced incidents of highway robbery and attacks; increased cross border trading; increased number of youth taking interest in funds like Uwezo and youth fund. Hess (2006) proffers that economic prosperity in an African set up are derived from the solidarity aspect of Ubuntu. This study looks at the structures of peace committees and recognizes their solidarity, which allows for communal approaches in dealing with matters, but importantly the synergy by which action plans are executed.

4.7 Limitations of Peace Committees Peace Committees are structures in the peace reconstruction process which advance the participation of people particularly promoting community approaches in handling and transforming conflicts from violence to acceptable levels of harmony in the community. While this is true as Adan (2006) mentioned, the challenges facing peace committees, cannot be ignored. Findings of this study identified three key areas where peace committees suffer irredeemably and this is concerned with; absence of a sustainable legal and policy framework; poor funding; inadequate capacity to handles diverse and complicated conflict scenarios; and Political Interferences and Patronage leadership.

According to the District Peace Committee Chairperson, the members of the DPCs decry the government does not appreciate their efforts, yet they give a lot of their time, resources and skills while responding to conflict issues in the region. The chairperson stated thus;

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“My members including myself do not get any benefit out of this peace building work, though, this is supposed to be voluntary we have families, children to take care of, school fees to pay and many other issues. This is a bit frustrating particularly because when this process begun, members used to be given some kind of stipend, although, this money was support from the UNDP. I would request that you ask the government in your research, to avail support for Peace Committees as they play a very important role in the relative calm we enjoy in this region.” (O.I. 11 05/08/2014)

4.7.1 Legal and Policy Handicaps In articulating the issues of legal and policy framework, this study looked at three aspects of this discussion and how the same affected the important role played by peace committees in entrenching sustainable conflict transformation mechanisms; the structure of the peace committees; the legal recognition and approaches and standards for conflict handling. Looking at the structure, peace committees in accordance with 68% of the respondents inhibit the effectiveness of the peace committees, as the presence of the mainstream security apparatus in them have downgraded the credibility in the public, as

Kenya’s security agencies have a skewed image of anti-human rights. This however, is a public expression of “rejection” not to the idea of peace committees but of the structure.

Although, respondent recognized presence of many Acts of Parliament which informed the need for peace building and conflict transformation, the fact that all had a relationship with particular institutions reduced the effectiveness as the efforts were not only scattered but uncoordinated as well. Notable laws included; the National Cohesion and Integration Act of 2008, the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Act of 2008, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the Administration of Justice.

Although the respondents acknowledged the intention(s) of these many laws, the absence of a National Policy on Peace Building reduced the chances for peace committees and any other initiatives for having greater impact. In conclusion, the study realized that the

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incoherent legal environment that does not define Peace Committees well dented their legitimacy (acceptability by the communities) at the grassroots.

4.7.2 Community Representation, Volunteerism and Operation(s) For the absence of legal and policy framework, peace committees reward system, assumed to grow from the end product of peaceful societies is misplaced according to 70% of the respondents. While the ultimate (peaceful communities) is important, the study found that, most volunteers to the peace committees have needs and may just require undertaking other assignments that can generate means and ways by which to fulfill them.

However, 66% of the respondents associated this problem to three factors; the conceptual framework of the peace committees and their link to National Secretariat on Conflict

Management (NSC) and Peace Building, which at the national level did not operate voluntarily. This therefore cannot stand the moral time frame and definition of volunteerism; the assumption that communities will appreciate peace as an important value for their own other ends, failed to recognize that private-public sectors and even the civil society sections in Kenya are at different development stages and therefore unable to sustain peace committees through a voluntary process of mobilizing resources for their existence; and the nature of peace committees mandate that is best described as reactive, that operations are incited at the emergence of potential or real violence is self-defeating, as most practitioners or members tend to assume other duties once such an event has been dealt with, this affects the process at two levels; lack of continuity both at the level of the action(s) or interventions and delegation or handover from one practitioner to another; and the loss of knowledge, expertise and peace building skills for lack of a physical repository.

This problem was associated by the absence of community structures gaining directly from

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the National Structures that are fully supported yet the issues of conflict are grassroots based. One of the elderly members of the Peace Committee had this to ask

Je, hawa watu wa Serikali, ambao wanataka sisi kusimamia and kujitolea kuleta amani katika Kuria, wana uwezo gani wa kutufanya sisi kujitolea hali wao wana marupurupu? Ili Amani ipatikane katika Kuria, lazima serikali ipate kutambua kwamba, binadamu anachoka na kitu ambacho hakina faida. Kujitolea ni ngumu, haswa ikiwa kuna kazi zingine za matunda ziko za kufanya. Hii ni swala muhimu, hebu litilie maanani.”- What moral authority do these government people who want us to give leadership and be involved in peace building processes in Kuria have in insisting peace committees to remain volunteers. The government needs to know that process that have no direct benefit are unsustainable, as it is difficult to ignore individual demands for collective concerns, especially where no monetary value is found.”(O.I. 12, 05./08. 2014)

4.7.3 Poor Funding and partisanship Having listened to peace committee members, women, youth, elders and people living with disabilities, the study acknowledged that peace committees as constituted have no monetary pot from where to control and fund their operations. Due to the inadequacy created by this scenario, peace committees are not sustainable within a crisis and neither do they grow beyond a solution. This scenario has created opportunity for diverse interferences and nurtured environments within which corruption, impunity and partisanship is bred. 52% of the respondents indicated that were it not for the interferences, in this case packaged as protection of criminal persons, promotion of individual interests, propagation of patronage demands and breeding of cartelism in the peace committees, most community members would have resorted to them for mediation, negotiation and many other harmony construction strategies.

4.8 Summary and Conclusions

The findings have made bare the role of each member of the Kuria community in regards to conflict transformation, with specific interest on the limitations they must

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contend with in trying to entrench peace building in their day to day undertakings. While peace committees are ideally meant to be a representation of the community ideals and proposals, their contribution is challenged for a number of reasons that the study has alluded to. Gender considerations in conflict handling and peace building remain one major area of concern among the Kuria. It was observed that the role of women and youth is still stunted due to the cultural practices that placed both at the lower tier of societal importance, thus making their participation in decision making difficult and unattainable. This presented structural challenges in connection to the practicality of implementing a peace building scheme in the community. In that regard therefore, and due to the fact that this study did not contend to discern the specific roles of women and youth in conflict transformation among the Kuria, it so makes a proposal that this be considered as a research area in reining conflict in this region.

In totality, inadequate political goodwill amongst the leadership in the region made lame the efforts to quell the fires of violence. This was demonstrated by the high level of interference in peace committees, where politicians planted discord among the members thus making their work difficult to accomplish. This problem that was evident in all processes, found “legitimacy” in the structure of the peace committees, which made government, a strong party to local processes, yet there was revelation that some agents of the state were partially the reason for protracted conflicts.

The study observed a moral standpoint in regards to the structures of peace committees, conflict transformation and peace building processes, which hinged on patriotism, volunteerism and local ownership. Although this was heralded as the most

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important aspect of the peace building structures, it suffered from a moralist premise, which asserts that volunteerism and patriotism are not concepts that operate discriminately; they must run through the society. Unfortunately, looking at the structure of NSC and the peace committees and contextualizing the ad hoc approach, it depicted a “supply and demand” kind of approach, thus making peace building a “event or business venture” rather than a process. The upper echelons of NSC were a permanent structure attracting remuneration(s) while the peace committees were vehicles of volunteerism, these two systems were not compatible, and therefore a source of discontent. In that regard, this study proposes that some research be undertaken to ascertain of the structure of NSC, factoring in the law enforcement agencies and the county administration plays a role in building peace across

Kuria people.

Conflict transformation and peace building required certain levels of skills, expertise and knowledge in order to help midwife the construction of harmony within and out of the Kuria community. The study found that peace education was inadequate and inconsistent. Most peace committees and members of the public seen in the lenses of stakeholders, highly depended on nongovernmental organizations in accessing relevant peace education, and this had its own limitations. It presented the difficulty of establishing a reference point where people interested in peace building could find recourse in developing knowledge, expertise and information relevant to such a discourse. Although the county commission administration is prominent in the peace committees, it did not provide meaningful interaction(s) to enable peace seekers nurture a culture of knowledge banking. The question that this study may seek other researcher to look at is the role played

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by National, County administration (Provincial Administration) in the development of peace structures in Kuria.

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CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Summary of Findings

The study carried out an investigation that sought to examine the contribution of peace committees to conflict transformation and peace building among the Kuria people of Migori County in Kenya. This section summarizes the findings of the study.

Under objective one, the study sought to establish the nature of conflicts among the Kuria in Migori County. The study revealed that among the Kuria and across their neighbors from bordering counties, conflicts were of diverse nature but largely economic and social cultural issues were prominent. In this study economically inclined reasons included high unemployment, limited formal and informal gainful economic space, poor distribution of resources across the people and poor local prices for livestock products.

However, economically driven reasons found support in a social-cultural structure that was not only sympathetic but encouraged cattle rustling as well thus making traditions and cultural practices a second big reason as to why conflicts were prolonged in the region.

Social cultural issues were represented by low levels of education, high attachment to retrogressive traditions like cattle rustling, early marriages, “age set land marks” and clan rivalries.

This is not to say that other conflicts were not present, issues of political incitement, ethnic differences and security related inadequacies which comprised of proliferation of small arms and light weapons added another angle to the conflicts, thus making violence more vicious and savage. In fact it is the availability of arms that has made

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the conflict in cattle rustling a commercial issue largely than a cultural affirmation. Further on matters of security related inadequacies the issue of porous borders between Kenya and

Tanzania stood as one point that encouraged proliferation of arms, and also the execution destiny of illegally acquired livestock in a commercially driven conflict. Other communities in other border counties provided the source for acquisition of livestock in order to sustain this illicit trade. All these inadequacies played in to the hands of young desperate people seeking gainful engagement in an environment constricted by larger economic realities, both locally and nationally. It was concluded that the conflicts in Kuria, were an expression of economic survival in an area where culture permitted such practices, and other forms of animosities were not independent or free of influence from livestock interests.

Objective two investigated the role played by peace committees in peace building in the region, and this was looked at in two perspectives; a) their contribution in enhancing unity and b) particular functions taken in regards to conflict handling. The study revealed that the structure of peace committees encouraged unity in the community, as various community sectors were represented. The peace committees had people living with disabilities, women, young people (youth: both men and women), private sector (business community), education fraternity (comprising of schools) and the county administration

(former provincial administration). Through stakeholder consultation, though ad hoc there was a sense of belonging among the players who sought to address conflict in the region.

Key to this is trust building, liaison services between mainstream and grassroots agencies, and dialogue. The study revealed that peace committees presented an avenue in which

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women, despite the stringent and suppressive patriarchal cultural structure could express themselves and make contributions toward establishment of harmony building structures.

On second level peace committee attended to specific tasks in the conflict handling in the community, which stabilized the peace building process. Looking at conflict prevention, the study revealed that peace committees provided reliable intelligence on conflicts and parties to conflicts, provided space for stakeholder engagement and in this process provide an amiable environment in which dialogue happened, particularly building of possible scenarios should conflict grow out of hand. This combined with regular reporting to relevant authorities within the government, made easy conflict prevention.

Therefore peace committees played a very significant role in suffocating conflicts before they ruptured in to violent conflict(s).

Further and in connection to conflict management, the peace committees are affiliated to tasks like emergency service delivery, secure logistical transportation and communication facilities, coordinating emergency services like trauma management and evacuation whenever such events arise. Therefore peace committees played facilitative roles in ensuring that effects of conflicts did not hamper the “normal cycle” of life in the affected communities, though largely they offered humanitarian services.

At the conflict transformation level that eventually leads to peace building, the study ascertained that peace committees mobilized people in dialogue, providing leadership where mediation and negotiation process are required, while structuring a problem solving process. In making dialogue outcomes a construction of people’s daily undertaking, the peace committees engaged in post-conflict goodwill manifesting as

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disarmament procedures, counseling, and reintegration as well as mentoring. It was concluded that peace committees involvement in conflict handling added value to the question of ownership, and popularization of grassroots interventions. The peace committees were the medium of inter-phasing the mainstream and traditional approaches to conflict handling. However, this was only possible because peace committees had made contributions to the building and strengthening of resilience amongst the Kuria. This was done through capacity building programmes, awareness creation on conflict issues, linking and learning initiatives (exposures and exchange visits-learning from successfully tried cases) and the mainstreaming of the rule of law.

In contributing to peace, the peace committees had expanded the interaction space for most sectors in the Kuria community, where religious leaders, women, youth and role of elders were well understood. In that regard identification of each group’s role allowed for development of interventions that were focused and targeted.

Objective three examined the challenges that peace committees faced in trying to make peace building work. The study concluded that peace committees would only succeed if there was absence of political interference, but presence of technical and financial support from parties interested in peace as a demonstration of goodwill. Although structural formation of the peace committees presented a challenges, it was observed that it was question that required legal approach in order to find relevant operational space for such institutions, particularly its affiliation with the grassroots.

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5.2 Recommendations

Peace committees are conflict transformation agencies that enjoy credibility and legitimacy amongst and across community members, and are still treated with respect.

In that regard, the study recommends that peace committees be given an independent recognition in law, in order to allow for the operationalization that is devoid of

“government-ness,” as currently there is a strong feeling/perception amongst members of the public in that region that government may be part of the problem. In fact the autonomy of such an institution may provide an ample space for resource mobilization and inclusive decision making (from participating groups/sectors). The legal autonomy of peace committees should be subject to an oversight body comprised of stakeholders, where the government or state can only participate as members and not leadership.

It was observed that peace initiatives in the region were intermittent and reactive, yet peace in itself is a process and not an event. Partly this was informed by the ad hoc nature of the peace building practice in Kenya, which is fast growing in to a cultural issue; on the other hand it was for lack of resources that such initiatives took this kind of approach. Having seen the disadvantages of such arrangement, the study recommends that a Peace Building Fund (PBF) be established based on the legal recognition of the committees through what this study refers to as Peace Committee Operational Framework

(PCOF). This should allow for budgeting in the national budget process but strongly attract support from diverse sources, which sometimes are skeptical about government’s way of handling resources if issues of corruption and impunity are factored in to the equation.

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Conflicts are of different nature in the region as was established by the intentions of the first objective, in that regard therefore the study recommends that a comprehensive approach be adopted that involves all the actors identified as sustaining the economic sense of the violence, considering that cattle rustling remains a major source of violence. It is prudent to start looking at the conflict from an economic angle contextualizing the place of the cow in the lucrative livestock business factoring in the players and interests from within and beyond the Kenyan borders. This essentially raises the issue of poverty eradication with a particular focus on an enabling economic environment. The poverty eradication program must consider the interests of the women, youth and people living with disabilities, thus creating a linkage to some of the established structures like Uwezo Fund, Youth Fund, Women Enterprise fund, Constituency development fund, as well as mother institutions. In localizing the issue of economic empowerment the county could improve on national programs like the defunct Kazi kwa

Vijana initiative, in order to allow integration of youths with little professional qualities, in to the formal and informal economy.

Conflict has been largely maintained by an extremely strong attachment of cultural practices that are retrogressive and dehumanizing in some circumstances if focus is put on Female genital Mutilation (FGM), cattle rustling and early marriages for girls amongst others. This study recommends that a more vibrant education program be adopted in order to help communities in the region deal with such debilitating cultures. In this programme incentives should be provided for societies that invest heavily in education matters, and those who desist from practicing some of the traditions scaling down development.

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It is the opinion based on the findings of this study that conflict transformation and peace building in Kenya remains largely ad hoc, disorganized and uncoordinated but extremely reactive. This can be attributed to the different perspectives of the conflict and the absence of a standardized approach in addressing real and emerging issues. This state of affairs is linked to the inadequacy of the current legal and policy framework, considering that the National Peace Building Policy still remains a bill and has not even been slotted for discussion by the National Assembly. It is also noticeable that other Acts of parliament with capacity to foster unity and peace amongst Kenyans are handled separately by different institutions like the National Cohesion and Integration Act of 2008, the dysfunctional TJRC Act and the Policy on National Cohesion. The study recommends that a comprehensive framework be established particularly the enactment of the law on

National Peace Building, and coordination point be established that has capacity to manage, regulate and inform all conflict handling and peace building processes in Kenya including the proposed Peace Committee Operational Framework and the Peace Building

Fund.

The constitution of Kenya recognizes the role played by alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, and in that light, this study recommends that a register be developed that can documents all the known ADR schemes in the Kuria community and be placed through an efficacy compliance process to ascertain the applicability in the contemporary Kenyan society of today. This calls for constructive and strategic partnership between local conflict transformation structures and the judicial systems. In enabling this kind of working arrangement, there is need that legal experts define the parameters upon which Alternative Dispute Resolution can be exercised, particularly

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because some of the issues have direct impact on the ability of the Kenyan society to respect and uphold human rights in accordance with national and international statutes domiciled in Kenya.

The Constitution under Article 29 recognizes and provides for the right of every

Kenyan to secure living environment and unassailable protection from the government, a function that the state has failed miserably. The study noted that the absence of government security agents, either out of inadequacy of numbers or resources had created a vacuum that has been taken over by vigilante groups, herein referred to as Chinkororo, Amachuma,

Itongo and Sungusungu. In this regard, there is need for two things; design and undertake a security governance program in the regions where pastoralist communities reside to allow for the establishment of grassroots community policing projects that are informed by law and guided by relevant statute, currently in a draft form (National Draft Policy on

Community Policing). Secondly there is urgent to incorporate Private Security Service

Providers in to the mainstream security governance, in order to put in place mechanisms to monitor, appraise and recommend functions and areas of focus between and across many players in the sector. Importantly though is the development of a Safety and Security

Strategy for Kuria, which may consider the regional relationship that emanate from the connection in Tanzania notwithstanding the current state of East African Community.

Conventional thinking and contemporary approaches of dealing with communities that are entrenched in conflicts demand that preparedness be a key function of any method of handling conflict. This study having observed the trends that are common in the Kuria region proposes that an early warning system be developed in order that

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innocent people can be safeguarded from violence. The early warning system of framework requires having indicators that are easy to identify and which the community relates with their daily undertakings. Borrowing from other areas like Isiolo and Marsabit, where several studies have been done, (SRIC, 2013), there are common signs when trouble is brewing. For instance when supplies reduces in the markets, some traders and tenants disappear from their areas of residence, and people overstock certain foods (which can be read by unprecedented demand) from supermarkets, wholesale shops, is a signal that something terrible is in the offing. This can be incorporated in the school learning system and also disseminated in open meetings like chief’s barazas.

The study have recognized the role played by both youth and women in the conflicts of Kuria, makes recommendation that mentorship programmes elsewhere have shown marked change in the rates of crime amongst younger persons. Notable though is the fact that such initiatives have targeted urban youth whose involvement in criminal activities is guarded and guided by looseness of waning cultures, thus lacking in the adequacy of pillars supporting solidarity of purpose. In this context, the study proposes that further research be undertaken to ascertain if mentorship programs have similar outcomes for young people living in the rural regions who have very poor educational background, and particularly those who belong to very strong cultural networks.

Having observed that education levels provided different lenses on conflicts among the respondents, and reading from other studies like Gudrun and Urdan (2011) who observed that the lesser educated a community is, the more likely they engage in conflict and the longer they stay in it as well. Based on this assertion and the finding by the study

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that respondent looked at conflict differently depending with their level of education, this study recommends that further research be carried out to ascertain what is the effect or consequences of education on the intractability of the conflict in Kuria. In this context the study should seek to discover if education on young people (youth) would be able to change their perspective of the current conflict, and secondly if the level of exposure would have any effect when looking at the attitudes, assumptions and stereotypes which somehow encourage conflict in the region. Interestingly the research must seek to understand if the county governments, as they stand today, with each seeking to have homemade institutions that are primary, secondary schools and tertiary colleges as well as Universities, diffuse the conflict scenario in the region.

The study observed that religious conflicts were totally absent in the region.

However, it was also noted that plurality of religion was also minimal. Studies from other areas like Nigeria, Cambodia and Mozambique indicate that religion becomes more conspicuous where violence levels are high. The researcher recommends that using the findings in Kuria and making comparisons where religious animosities have been experienced, further research in this area to examine the nexus between religion and conflict, particularly in pastoralist communities, considering that Kuria is predominantly

Christian and tradionalist contrary to communities in Northern Kenya.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX I: Questionnaire for peace committee members

I am Cornelius W. Wamalwa a post graduate student from Kisii University. I would like to assess the role of Peace Committees in conflict transformation in Kuria region, Migori county Kenya. You are sampled to be one of the participants for this study. The information collected is only for learning purposes and will be treated with confidentiality.

INSTRUCTIONS

Kindly answer all the questions by putting a tick in the appropriate boxand the comments in the spaces provided. The information provided in this questionnaire will be treated with confidentiality.

PART A. Demographic Data

1. Gender of the respondent:

Male Female

2. Respondent’s highest level of education

Primary Secondary College Graduate

Others specify……………..… …………………………………………….

3. The respondent’s occupation

Casual labourer Religious leader Civil servant

Business

NGO worker Private sector

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Others specify…………………………………….

4. Religious status of the respondent

Traditional Catholic Protestant Muslim

Others specify…………

5. Age bracket of the respondent:

18 – 24 yrs 25 – 34 yrs 35 – 44 yrs 45 – 54 yrs

55 & over

PART B: Nature and type of conflicts experienced in Kuria

6. Does Kuria experience conflicts?

Yes No

If yes

7. What is the nature of the conflict in Kuria? Please tick as many as possible i) Nature and type of conflict ii) Rank Nature & type of conflict 1.

Highest 2. High 3. Medium 4. Low. 5.

Lowest

Political conflict Political conflict

Inter-clan Inter-clan

Religious conflict Religious conflict

Ethnic / tribal Ethnic / tribal cattle resources cattle raids

Others specify Others specify

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7. What is the cause of the conflicts? Please tick as many as possible;

Clan rivalry Incitement from politicians cattle rustling Revenge for the attack

Mistrust Ethnicity/ Tribalism

Insecurity / fear of more attacks Availability of guns

Partisan way of handling issues by the The Nyabasi influenced police/administration location of district

headquarters

Greedy leaders who deny us services Land boundary along the road.

Others please

specify………………………………………………………………………….

8. Who was engaged in the conflicts?

......

9. Whom do you think is to blame for the conflicts experienced in Kuria?

Government [ ] Politicians [ ] Neighbours [ ]

The neighbouring community [ ]

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Others

(specify)………………………………………………………………………….

PART C: Functioning of the Peace Committees in the Management of Conflict

1. Which level of PC do you serve?

County level [ ]

Sub county level [ ]

County ward level [ ]

Location [ ]

Sub location level [ ]

2. How many members constitute a PC? ......

3. The peace committee has an objective for each year?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

If yes

What are the objectives of the PC in which you serve? Kindly rate the extent to which you agree with the following statements on the objectives of the Peace Committees in the management of conflict

5: Strongly Agree, 4: Agree, 3: Undecided, 2: Disagree, 1: Strongly Disagree

Statement 5 4 3 2 1

Security of the community members

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Foster a spirit of trust and cooperation between people of different ethnic groups

To improve the economic well-being of the community

To become proactive at the community level in addressing issues related to group violence and other criminal activities.

To improve communication between civilians, the police and local administrators in, and the areas surrounding, Kuria

Kindly rate the extent to which you agree with the following statements on how the Peace

Committees work in order to manage conflict

5: Strongly Agree, 4: Agree, 3: Undecided, 2: Disagree, 1: Strongly Disagree

Statement 5 4 3 2 1

The peace committee is represented by all levels of social and political organization, racial and gender groups.

The PC meets regularly to set their agenda in order to achieve their collective objective

The members of the PC gather news and distribute information depending on the security situation of the area

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Members analyze security issues and work out plans for preventative action, develop peace building initiatives, explore and plan development and income generating projects.

The work of the Peace Committee is carried out consciously and transparently without ethnic, religious, or gender discrimination.

PART D: The level of stakeholders’ participation in Peace Committees in conflict transformation

Kindly rate the extent to which you agree with the following statements on stakeholders participate in Peace Committees

5: Strongly Agree, 4: Agree, 3: Undecided, 2: Disagree, 1: Strongly Disagree

Statement 5 4 3 2 1

PC engage proportional and meaningful participation of all the people in peace negotiations, informal talks, discussions, special taskforces, as well as in all aspects of peace building processes

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Conducting of capacity building programmes from sub location to sub county level for meaningful participation of the members in all peace, security and judicial mechanisms

Expanding of the participation of marginalized groups in peace committees on proportional basis

Peace Committees interact with political parties, civil society, representatives of NGOs, collect their views and calls for special meetings

Providing training, workshop, seminars, exposure visits for the PC member

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PART E: Effectiveness of the peace committees in Conflict transformation

Kindly rate the extent to which you agree with the following statements on effectiveness of the peace committees in conflict transformation.

5: Strongly Agree, 4: Agree, 3: Undecided, 2: Disagree, 1: Strongly Disagree

Statement 5 4 3 2 1

Due to the influence of Peace Committees there has been a marked improvement in the security of the region

There is a decrease support of criminal

There is an improvement in inter-clan relationships within the Kuria community that is evident from the level of participation in community projects.

The peace committee has been able to bring the communities together around shared interests of security, and community, as well as economic development.

Perceptions of the police force and government officials has changed

PART F: Policy that make peace committees effective in Conflict Transformation(s)

Kindly rate the extent to which you agree with the following statements on Policies that make peace committees effective in Conflict Transformation

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5: Strongly Agree, 4: Agree, 3: Undecided, 2: Disagree, 1: Strongly Disagree

Statement 5 4 3 2 1

Peace Committees must address security in all aspects of public safety, in particular establishment of a safe and secure environment and development of legitimate and stable security institutions.

Provision of mechanisms to redress grievances, exact appropriate penalties for previous acts, and build capacity to promulgate and enforce the rule of law. Incorporating the concept of restorative justice.

Addressing fundamental social and economic needs of the people

Good governance involving setting rules and procedures for political decision-making, and delivering public services in an efficient and transparent manner.

Public participation by giving voice to the population through the development of civil society that includes the generation and exchange of ideas through advocacy groups, civic associations, and the media.

Thank you

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APPENDIX II: Interview schedule for Government officials, key informants

I am Cornelius W. Wamalwa a post graduate student from Kisii. I would like to assess the role of Peace Committees in conflict transformation in Kuria region, Migori County Kenya.

You are sampled to be one of the participants for this study. The information collected is only for learning purposes and will be treated with confidentiality.

1. Name of organization / institution: ………………………………………….

2. What are your objectives? …………………………………………………………

3. What is your designation in the office? ......

4. Whom do you deal with? ......

5. Kindly explain the nature and type of conflict experienced in Kuria.

......

6. What are the causes of conflicts?

………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………..

7. For how long has your institution been involved in conflict transformation?

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…………………………………………………………………………………………

……..

8. What is the role of your institution in the conflict transformation in Kuria region?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………

9. Who is involved in the conflicts?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………….…………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………

10. Whom do you think is to blame for the conflicts experienced in Kuria?

………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………. 201

11. What are the objectives of PC in your region?

………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………..………………………………………

………………………………………

12. Does the Peace Committee in your region have a plan for their activities

...... Yes ...... No......

13. Are you aware of any of the activities that the Peace Committee undertake in

connection with the issues facing the Kuria community

......

14. In your interaction with Peace Committees have ever been invited to give an

opinion regarding any matter in this community

Yes: ...... No: ......

15. If the above answer is yes, what discussion were you involved in and how did you

find that interaction? (describe it by either saying it was objective, subjective or

none)

202

......

Objective (Balanced) ...... Subjective. (Lack of balance)...... None (not clear)......

16. How does a PC function in order to achieve its objectives?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………

17. Do what level is stakeholders involved in Peace Committees in conflict

transformation?

………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………

18. In your opinion do you think that women are involved in tackling issues affecting

the community through the Peace Committees?

Yes: ...... No: ......

19. If the above answer is yes, please explain how this has been in done in your opinion

......

...... 203

......

20. Looking at the youth today and the conflict situation in Kuria, do you think that the

peace committees have a representation of the youth, or there is the voice of the

youth in it?

Yes: ...... No: ......

21. How do you think youths participate in matters of conflict handling

22. How effective is the peace committees in Conflict transformation?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………

23. If you to rate the performance of peace committee in your area, what mark would

give it to ascertain effectiveness (1- is poor 2- is fair: 3- is good and 4- is excellent

and 5-Not aware)

1:...... 2:...... 3:...... 4:...... 5:......

...

24. Are you aware of any challenges facing peace committee in your region, please

mention at least three

204

......

25. Are you aware of any laws, institutions and policies that can add value to conflict

handling processes in your region, please mention as many as you know

......

26. In your opinion, what changes would you propose that can make peace committees

more effective and relevant to the conflict scenario in Kuria?

………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………..

Thank you

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APPENDIX III: Guide for focus group discussion

1. Name of the group

………………………………………………………………………………………

………

2. In your opinion, what is the types of conflicts do we experience in Kuria region?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………

3. Do you think that enough effort has been done to end the conflict Yes......

No......

Please qualify the response that you give

......

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4. When called upon what activities do peace committees engage in as a response to

resolving conflicts in Kuria region?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………..

5. Are you able to say whether, all members of the community are represented and are

heard in peace committees? If so how and why?

......

6. What methods do you think peace committees have put in place in order to pick

and include the proposals from the community when addressing issues of conflicts,

please explain?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………. 207

7. Are Peace Committees effective in Conflict transformation?

......

8. In your opinion, policy framework that can make Peace Committees more effective

in conflict transformation?

………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………

Thank you.

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APPENDIX IV: Observation Check List

For the researcher and the research assistants to observe, assess and record items during the period of this study, the following items will be used

State of Physical facilities

YES NO

Damaged houses

Damaged churches

Damaged mosques

Infrastructure

Good Poor

State of the road net-work

State of the rail road

Business activities

YES NO

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Men and women running business the roads

People working in their firms

Matatu operators mingling as usual

210

Presence of security outlets

YES NO

Police stations

Police patrol base

People working late hours

Youth wingers managing areas

Any other observation…………………………..

211

212

213

The Researcher together with an assistant taking notes on seeking clarification during group discussions at Ntimaru Centre

The researcher collecting data in an informal meeting with elderly members of the community under terms of their comfort 214

215