A spot check by URN in the Pokot Girls Secondary School found that of 19 teaching staff, ten who belong to Sabiny community had fled to their ancestral homes and never returned back despite the directive from the district officials.
Authorities in Amudat district are struggling to
provide social services to its people as evicted civil servants from the Sabiny
community fail to resume work.
On 14th February, the Pokot
resolved to flush out people belonging to the Sabiny community living
in Amudat district. The move was in retaliation to Sabiny leaders resolution to chase away Pokot herdsmen who crossed to
their land to graze livestock.
In the turn of events, the district security
committee convened an emergency meeting and resolved that all the civil
servants who had fled should resume work on 20th February. As
of Tuesday, no staff had reported back work despite orders from the
district authorities.
A spot check by our reporter in the Pokot Girls
Secondary School found out that the 19 teaching staff, ten of the teachers who belong to Sabiny community had already fled to their
ancestral homes and never returned back as per the directive from the district officials.
But Brighton Kaptumon, one of Sabiny students in
Pokot Girls Secondary School noted that the eviction did not affect them in regard to their continued presence in Amudat and
they are peacefully coexisting with the Pokot students.
Kaptumon said that there has been no serious
learning at school since a half of the teachers fled following the threats
by the Pokot community.
He noted that they used to attend five lessons in
a day but now it has been reduced to one and sometimes no studies at all.
Patricia Masau, another student revealed that
they are spending their time revising books and sometimes do general
cleaning at the school.
Masau observed that although there are some few
teachers who remained at school, there are classes going on due to low morale to teach.
She expressed her worries that they are more
likely to perform poorly if the situation is not addressed because the teachers
will be emotionally tortured and living in fear while executing their duty.
Vox pop //Cue in: ‘’all the teachers…….//
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Daniel Ekoriye Kuya, the deputy head teacher of
Pokot Girls Secondary School acknowledged they have nineteen teachers and
among them ten belong to the Sabiny community.
Kuya noted that all the Sabiny teachers left on
Friday leaving the school stranded with learners without lessons. Kuya added
that the news of eviction took him by surprise and had thought the missing teachers had gone for the weekend since it was a Friday.
He said that the school is stuck and they have
urged the students to stay calm and ensure they revise their books until the
situation normalizes.
Kuya also noted that the resolution did not
affect the students who are Sabiny and they are peacefully coexisting with the
Pokot children.
//Cue in: ‘’they are scared……….//
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Emmanuel Oyuku Ocen, the Chief Administrative Officer
of Amudat district observed that a total number of 79 technical staff who left
have not yet returned despite repeated calls for them to resume work.
Ocen said that the health and education sectors
are the most affected since the majority of staff were from the Sabiny
community.
He cited that there are some health facilities
that are run by only Sabiny health workers and since they left all the services
have been halted.
Ocen stated that several calls have been made to
convince the Sabiny to come back but all in vain, yet the community is in dire
need of social services.
Ocen said they want to draw up a commitment that
will ensure the safety of the Sabiny staff and send it across the Sebei subregion assuring the scareds staff of their security when they return.
//Cue in: ‘’all of them have……..//
Cue out: ‘’…………Sebei sub region.’’//
George Owanyi, the Amudat District Resident
Commissioner, said that they are currently engaging the Pokot community to
consider allowing the Sabiny community to return as they look forward to
addressing the conflict between the two warring communities.
Owanyi revealed that none of the staff has
returned despite his orders, an indication that the Sabiny community are still
afraid for their safety.
Owanyi observed that the decision by Pokot to
flush out the Sabiny community has crippled the service delivery both at the
local government and private sector.
Owanyi noted that the conflict is being fueled by
the top leadership from both sides of the two communities. He added that
the District Security Committee is exploring all avenues of ensuring that peace
prevails between the Pokot and Sabiny as they coexist together.
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Francis Chemusto, the Mt Moroto Regional Police
Commander, emphasized that the services must be delivered to the people as they work
hard to resolve the conflict. He noted that it would be awkward to deny
innocent children school and treatment to the patients because of simple issues
which require mutual understanding.
Chemusto warned that denying the community social
services will worsen the situation and as security they cannot allow that to
continue when there are possible means of resolving the conflict.
Chemusto urged the Amudat authorities to engage
the staff who fled to return as soon as possible and continue with their
work while peace dialogues go on.
He called upon the local leaders from both sides
to desist from blame games but rather create developmental ideas which can build
the peace between the two communities.
//Cue in : ‘’I still suggest……//
Cue out : ‘’……..benefit of all of us,’’//
On Monday, the district leadership of Amudat, with the joint security forces and the community convened at Karita town council to
discuss the way forward in addressing the conflict between the two communities.
However the meeting did not yield results as the community requested for more
consultative engagements to find better measures to permanently end the
conflict.
