Pastoralists in dire straits : survival strategies and external
interventions in a semi-arid region at the Kenya/Uganda border:
Western Pokot, 1900-1986
Dietz, A.J.
Citation
Dietz, A. J. (1987, December 11). Pastoralists in dire straits : survival strategies and external interventions in a semi-arid region at the Kenya/Uganda border: Western Pokot, 1900-1986. Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam. Retrieved from
https://hdl.handle.net/1887/68673
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T
ALISTS IN IRE STR
I
survival strategies and external interventions in a semi-arid
region at
the Kenya/Uganda border: Western Pokot, 1900 - 1986
Typescript: Claire Renardel de Lavalette - De Sterke Figures: Jan ter Haar
CIP-GEGEVENS KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, DEN HAAG Dietz, Antonius Johannes
Pastoralists in dire straits: survival strategies and external
interventions in a semi-arid region at the Kenya/Uganda border: Western Pokot, 1900-1986 / Antonius Johannes Dietz. - Amsterdam: Instituut voor Sociale Geografie, Universiteit van Amsterdam. -Ill.
Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1987. - Met samenvatting in het Nederlands.
ISBN 90-6993-018-8
SISO af.m-keni 630.9 UDC
911.3:[631/632+636](676.1/.2)(043.3)
Trefw.: Kenya; sociale geografie / landbouw; Kenya; geschiedenis 1900-1986 / veeteelt; Kenya; geschiedenis; 1900-1986.
ISBN 90-6993-018-8 Thesis ISBN 90-6809-057-7 NGS 49
Copyright © 1987 by Anto,ni us Johannes Dietz
Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden verveelvoudigd en/of openbaar gemaakt door middel van druk, fotokopie of op welke andere wijze ook zonder voorafgaande schri fte l i j kei toestemmi ng van de ui tgever.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form of print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means without written permission from the
publisher.
PASTORALISTS IN DIRE STRAITS
survival strategies and external interventions
in a semi-arid region at the Kenya
I
Ugandaborder : Western Pokot, 1900 - 1986
ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam, op gezag van de Rector, Magnificus, Prof. dr S.K. Thoden van Velzen, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de
Aula der Universiteit ( Oude Lutherse Kerk, ingang Singel 411, hoek Spui ), op vrijdag 11 december 1987 te 13.00 uur precies door
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Figures 8 List of Tabl~s 8 Preface 11
1 Introduction 13
1.1 Pastoralists in Dire Straits 13 1.2 The Research Area 21
1.3 The People 26
1.4 Methods of Investigation 30 1.5 The Organization of the Book 32 Notes 34
2 Semi-Arid Kenya and Uganda: Location, Position and a Brief History of Policy Orientations 35
2.1 The Location of Semi-Arid Areas in Kenya 35
2.2 The Position of West Pokot and other Semi-Arid Districts in Kenya 40
2.3 Policy Orientations Concerning Dry Areas in Kenyan Government Circles, 1900-1986 51
2.3.1 Introduction 51
2.3.2 The Period between 1900 and 1938: Pacification 52 2.3.3 The Period between 1938 and 1954: the Land Conservation
Problem 52
2.3.4 The Period between 1954 and 1965: the Pastoral Intensification Problem 54
2.3.5 The Period between 1965 and 1976: the Marketing and Land Ownership Problem 55
2.3.6 The Period after 1976: Food Security and the Neglect of Livestock 57
2.3.7 The Recent Dry Area Focus: Why? 64 2.4 Karamoja, Uganda 68
Notes 76
Appendix 2.1 Agro-Climatic Zones per District 77 3 Semi-Arid Western Pokot: Natural Conditions 79
3.1 The Location of Semi-Arid Areas in Pokot 79
3.2 The Agricultural Potential of Semi-Arid Western Pokot 79 3.2.1 Climatic Constraints 81
3.2.2 Harvest Failures and Loss of Livestock because of Droughts, Diseases and other Natural Causes 87 3.2.3 Soil and Relief Constraints 97
3.2.4 Irrigation Possibilities 102
3.2.5 The Possible Livestock Use of Semi-Arid Areas in Western Pokot 103
Appendix 3.1 Rainfall Figures Kongelai/Kacheliba 1953-1986 110
Appendix 3.2 Short Description of the Relevant Soil Types in Western West Pokot 111
4 Western Pokot: Population, Land Use, and Survival Strategies 113 4.1 Population Supporting Capacity on the Basis of Livestock 113 4.2 Survival Strategies Concerning Livestock Production in Western
Pokot 118
4.3 The Exchange of Livestock Products for Grains 127 4.4 The Inhabitants of Western Pokot and their Animals 131
4.4.1 Population Growth and Distribution 1920-1986 131 4.4.2 Actual Population Densities: Figures and
Interpretation 133
4.4.3 Livestock in Western Pokot, 1920-1986 135 4.5 Intensification Theory 142
4.6 Crop Production in Western Pokot 146
4.7 Survival Strategies Related to Food Crop Production 149 4.8 Survival Strategies Outside Food Production 153
4.9 Migration to the Highlands as a Way Out 158
4.10 Mobility, Flexibility and Diversity as Key Strategies of Survival: an Example 163
4.11 A Rearrangement of Survival Strategies 166 Notes 169
Appendix 4.1 Human Food Requirements in Western Pokot 170 Appendix 4.2 Sources of Population Estimates Pokot area 172
5 External Interventions by Government Institutions and Missions 173 5.1 Introduction 173
5.2 Incorporation in Colonial and Post-Colonial Politico-Administrative Frameworks 173
5.2.1 The Demarcation of the Two Jurisdictions 174 5.2.2 Territorial Confinement 177
5.2.3 Civil Administration 179 5.2.4 Political Representation 185 5.2.5 Security, Law and Order 187 5.2.6 Taxation 193
5.2.7 Labour Recruitment and Labour Market Integration 196 5.2.8 Access to Land and Changes in Land Ownership 197 5.2.9 Control of Trade and Attempts at Commercializatio 198 5.2.10 Roads and Communications 200
5.3 Penetration by Missionary Institutions 204 5.4 Development Activities 209
5.4.1 Introduction: the Plans and the Money 209 5.4.2 Health Care and Famine Relief 213
5.4.3 The Development of Formal Education 219 5.4.4 Water Development 225
Notes 240
6 Three Case Studies of Survival Strategies and the Impact of External Interventions on the Household Level 241
6.1 Introduction 241 6.2 Alale 244
6.2.1 The Case Study Area 244 6.2.2 Before 1979 244
6.2.3 1979-1985: a Chronology of Disasters and Interventions 246
6.2.4 Income and the Level of Market Integration in 1982 248 6.2.5 The Household Survival Strategies 251
6.2.6 External Interference and its Impact 257 6.3 Kodich 258
6.3.1 The Case Study Area 258 6.3.2 Before 1979 259
6.3.3 1979-1985: Disasters, Interventions and Response: a Chronology 260
6.3.4 Household Survival Strategies during the 1984-85 Disasters 263
6.3.5 From Affluence to Poverty 266 6.4 Kongelai 268
6.4.1 The Case Study Area 268 6.4.2 Before 1979 270
6.4.3 1979-1986 271
6.4.4 Survival Strategies in 1984-85: the Household Level 272 6.5 Conclusion 281
Appendix 6.1 Food Production Estimates 284
Appendix 6.2 Details Kongelai S Group and D Group, 1984-85 285 7 Conclusions and Theoretical Reflections 287
7.1 How Crisis Prone is the Economy in Semi-Arid Western Pokot, due to Threats from the Physical Environment? 287
7.2 What Types of Strategies have the People of Western Pokot Developed to Survive these Recurrent Crises? 289
7.3 What Impact did External Interventions have on Crises and on Survival Strategies of the Western Pokot? 290
7.4 Under What Conditions can Pastoralism be a Viable Livelihood in Western Pokot? 301
Bibliography 305
LIST OF FIGURES
1.1 Administrative and Ethnic Regions: NW Kenya, NE Uganda, 1986 20 1.2 Research Area: Roads and Centres, 1986 24
1.3 Close and Distant Tribal Affiliates of the Pokot 27 1.4 Pokot Territory around 1880 29
2.1 Semi-Arid Zone Kenya according to Porter 36 2.2 Drought-Prone Areas according to Wisner 36
2.3 Dry Zones in Kenya and Uganda, according to the UNESCO-map "World Distribution of Arid Regions" 36
2.4 Semi-Arid Areas in Kenya; own interpretation, based on KSS 37 2.5 Kenya: Semi-Arid Zone and District Boundaries 39
2.6 Population Pyramids of a Typical Labour Attraction District (Nairobi) and a Typical Labour Supply District (Kitui), 1979 47 2.7 Typology of Semi-Arid Districts in Kenya 49
2.8 Kenya: Economic Characteristics Semi-Arid Areas 50
3.1 Pokot Territory: Administrative Divisions, Agro-Climatic Zones and Economic Regions 80
3.2 Study Area: Agro-Climatic Zones and Administrative Boundaries, 1986 82
3.3 Harvest Failures, Livestock Diseases and Other Natural Disasters 89
3.4 Kongelai/Kacheliba: Annual Rainfall 1953-1986 93 3.5 Soil Types in Western West Pokot District 99
3.6 Semi-Arid Western West Pokot: Suitability of the Soils for Arable Use 99
4.1 Western West Pokot: Actual Population Densities 1979, Compared with 'Critical Densities' on the Basis of Pure Pastoralism 134 4.2 Carrying Capacity for Different P/Eo Levels 139
4.3 Animal Densities in Kongelai: Models Compared with Reality 140 4.4 Start of Considerable Farming Activities: West Pokot and Upe 148 4.5 The Rukiey Lineage: Genealogical Graph and Migration
Histories 161
5.1 Kenya-Uganda Boundary Proposals 1919; De Jure Boundary 1926 and De Facto Boundary 1932-1970 176
5.2 Western Pokot: Development of the Road System 203
5.3 Western West Pokot: Mission Centres and Congregations, 1983 205 5.4 Health Facilities Western Pokot 216
5.5 Primary Schools in Western Pokot: 1966, 1979, 1983 221
5.6 An Impression of Intervention Width: Western Pokot, 1910-1985 233 6.1 Case-Study Areas in Western Pokot 242
6.2 Alale 245
6.3 Movements of Ten Alale Households, 1979-1984 252 6.4 Kodich 258
6.5 Kongelai 269
LIST OF TABLES
2.1 Summary of Agro-Climatic Zones, per Kenyan Province 40
2.2 Semi-Arid Districts and Other Districts: Demographic Character-istics 41
2.4 The Social Position of Semi-Arid Districts Compared to Other Districts 43
2.5 West Pokot Compared with Semi-Arid Districts and with Kenya 44 2.6 Estimated Labour Migration from Semi-Arid Districts, 1969 and
1979 48
2.7 Commercial Agricultural Value per Capita, 1977, Semi-Arid Districts 49
2.8 ASAL Programmes in Kenya 59
2.9 Approved Development Budget Allocations 1985-86 per Capita 63 2.10 Karamoja 1920-1986 69
A.2a Agro-Climatic Zones per District 77
3.1 Carrying Capacity Estimates for Semi-Arid Lands 83 3.2 Drought and Other Natural Disasters, Western Pokot,
1885-1985 88
3.3 Moisture Calculations for Kongelai 1982-83-season 92 3.4 Standardized Eo and Etp for Kongelai 94
3.5 Growing Season Possibilities Based on Moisture Analysis, Kongelai/ Kacheliba, 1953-1986 95
3.6 The Probability of Adequate Rainfall in the Various Months, according to the FAO Method, 1953-1986 96
3.7 Soil Suitability Classes and PAUPA proportion 98
3.8 Available Arable Land per Agro-Climatic Zone and Soil Unit in Kacheliba Division 101
3.9 Yield/Ha, Kongelai and Kodich, 1982-84, Riverine AS-Soil Type 102 3.10 The Western Pokot Grazing Lands: a Summary 103
3.11 Possible Livestock Use of Semi-Arid Areas in Kacheliba Division 104
3.12 Possible Livestock Use of Semi-Arid Areas in Kacheliba During a Drought 106
3.13 Carrying Capacity Kacheliba, according to Models Presented in Pratt
&
Gwynne 108A.3a Rainfall Figures Kongelai/Kacheliba 1953-86 110
4.1 Food Value of Cattle Production in a Reference Area of one km2; Standard Year 114
4.2 Food Value of Goat's and Sheep Production in a Reference Area of one km2 115
4.3 Food Production of Cattle, Sheep and Goats, Reference Areas, (1 km2), Standard Year 116
4.4 Possible Population Densities Based on Livestock, Zone IV Reference Area; Various Situations 117
4.5 Prices of Livestock Products and Grains, West Pokot 128
4.6 Official Sale of Cattle, Shoats, Hides and Skins during Droughts, West Pokot 130
4.7 Population Estimates Pokot, 1926-1979 132
4.8 Population Densities Pokot Territory, 1926-1979 133
4.9 Possible Population Densities: Pure Pastoralism and Pastoralism with Goats-for-Maize Trade 135
4.10 Estimated Stock Units West Pokot District, 1926-1983 137 4.11 Stock Units Counted in 1952 140
A.4a A.4b 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 A.6.2 7.1 7.2 7.3
Food Requirements of the Sex and Age Groups 170
Weighted Labour Calendar for Semi-Pastoral Western Pokot 171 Government Employees in West Pokot and their Salaries 182 Missionary Presence and Religious Success, Western West Pokot,
1982 206
Missionary Development Activities in Western Pokot, 1980-86 208 Costs of Implemented Development Projects, Western West Pokot, 1983-85 210
Recurrent Budget Estimates for Kacheliba and Chepareria Divisions, 1983 212
Health Facilities Western Pokot Lowlands 217
Growth of Education in Western West Pokot, 1971-1986 222 Missionary Sponsorship of Schools, Western West Pokot Lowlands, 1983 223
Water Development Projects, Western Pokot 226 A Summary of Institutional Interventions 233
Interventions and Survival Strategies: a Summary 240
Types of Households Participating in the Suam River Agricultural Project, 1984 243
Alale Household Survey 249
Kodich: Distribution of Cattle Before and After the Military Operation 262
Kodich: Sources of Money, April 1984 - July 1985 266
Level of Income and Food Production, Standard Household, Kodich 1978 267
Kodich: Income Level 1984-5 for an Average Household 268 Food Needs and Food Production at the Household Level, Kongelai 1983 274
Sources of Income, Kongelai 1984-85 276 Survival Strategies Kongelai 1984-85 279
Details Kongelai S Group and D Group, 1984-5 285
Physical Survival Strategies in Western Pokot and the Impact of External Interventions, 1900-1985 294
Strategies for the Survival of Animal Wealth during Crises and the Impact of External Interventions, Western Pokot, 1900-1985 298 The External Impact on the Survival of Pastoralism, 1900-1985 299
The value of 100 Ken_yan Shillings, 1950-1986
US$ DFl Ugandan Shs Local Goats
1950 14 53 100 8 1960 14 53 100 7 1970 14 51 100 3 1975 14 35 100 1.3 1980 13 26 100 1.1 1981 11 22 560 1.0 1982 9 24 810 1.1 1983 8 23 1160 1.1 1984 7 22 2510 0.7 1985 6 18 4050 0.7 1986 6 15 8820 0.7
PREFACE
In 1977 a group of students from the Department of Human Geography of the University of Amsterdam asked me to supervise desk research on Dutch development assistance to Kenya. I was a junior staff member at that time, with some fieldwork experience in Zambia. We studied the regional inequality and the role of the state in Kenya, using concepts derived from discussions about 'peripheral capitalism•. Kenya proved to be a fascinating example of large diversity and rapid changes in types and levels of •market integration•. Together with my wife and colleague Annemieke van Haastrecht and two students, Bernhard Schellenberger and Marijke Veldhuis, we decided to go to Kenya ourselves and to prepare a study of four types of 1
peripheral1
districts: Machakos, Kitui, Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot. We got the information that the Kenyan
government had asked the Netherlands to fund an 1
Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) Development Programme• in Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot. Annemieke and myself decided to concentrate on those two districts. During 1981 it became clear to us that the Netherlands Ministry of Development Cooperation (DGIS, Research and Appropriate Technology
section) was prepared to sponsor our research plans, under the condition that we would work together with the ASAL Programme Coordinator and that we would concentrate our research on the semi-arid lowlands and
escarpment zones. The enthousiasm and insistence of the ASAL PC, Huup Hendrix, resulted in a broad, explorative and practical research during our one year stay in Kenya between April 1982 and March 1983. The
cooperation also resulted in a lot of products: Locational Development Profiles, sector studies, District Atlases, District Information and Documentation Centres and, later, in an assignment as 1backstoppers1 of
the ASAL Programmes, with visits to West Pokot in August 1984, February and November 1985 and November 1986.
In 1982-83 we were formally attached to the Institute for Development Studies of the University of Nairobi -where we presented two working papers- and we worked with an official research clearance from the Office of the President and from the District Commissioners. In 1984-86 we were cooperating with the ASAL section of the Rural Planning Division of the Ministry of Planning and National Development. Here the contacts with Mr. Kidenda, Mr. Kalikandar, Mr. Owiti and Mr. Kipkan sharpened our sensibility to some of the ins and outs of the Kenyan state machinery at the 1Nairobi1 level. Contacts with many Kenyan civil servants had done so before in the districts.
My original intention was to study the impact of development projects on regional and inter-household differentiation of processes of market integration and to do so historically. In this book you will indeed find quite a lot of information on market integration. However, during our fieldwork in 1982-83 and even more so during ASAL-related fieldwork during and after 1984 it became evident that •market integration• could hardly be studied historically and was not the issue at stake at the moment. Drought and other disasters in 1979-81 and again in 1984-85 resulted in a major struggle for survival. Market integration was related to survival strategies, not so much to state interventions and even less to development projects. To understand socio-economic
had to look for a new theoretical basis. In this process of
reorientation, Mirjam Schomaker played a major role. She was a student in physical geography, specialized in land evaluation, when she assisted us during half a year in 1982-3. After that she continued to bridge the gap between human and physical geography. We gradually refined a model approach of 'population supporting capacity' and it was this approach which provided us with th«~ key to understand the impact of variability and crises on the economy of semi-arid areas. Not the 'impact of
development projects on market integration' became our field of study, but the 'impact of external interventions on survival strategies in a highly variable environment'.
We gained a lot from the opportunity to discuss our ideas with colleagues and students cooperating in the 'Semi-Arid Lands Project Amsterdam'. I would like to thank them for providing a stimulating academic environment.
The DGIS connection meant an emphasis on descriptive work. In 1985 it was felt that it was about time to start with a more analytical analysis of our archival and fieldwork material. I decided to concentrate this in-depth study on the western part of the area of the Pokot. This economic region includes parts of Karamoja in Uganda; between 1932 and 1970 even most of the study area was administered by Uganda. I was
greatly assisted by a student, Jan Willem le Grand, who went to Karamdja twice to study archival material, to gather a lot of 1
grey1
literature and to interview key informants. In Kenya, indispensable assistance was given by a number of research assistants, especially Simon Lopeyok Otyang, Romanus Partany Chizupo, Albinus Kotomei, Michael Ptalam
Lodiokile and Rachel Andiema. I hope this book will stimulate them to go on with their own research on Pokot culture and economy. Of course, without the numerous Pokot informants this study would not have been possible. I wish them a pastoral future. Important was the assistance given by Rinus and Leoni van Klinken, while the fieldwork experience of our students Irene Dubel, Marjanne de Kwaasteniet, Jack Koninx, Niels de Vos, Fred Zaal, Ingrid van Tienhoven, Marja Gall~ and Bert Vermaat
worked as catalysts for my own thoughts.
Thanks are due to DGIS and to the University of Amsterdam for financing the research; to Pelle Mu9 for financial management; to the various people at the 'Kenya desk' of DGIS, to the Netherlands Embassy in
Nairobi and above all to the ASAL staff in the field. My two supervisors Prof. Wim Heinemeijer and Prof. Herman van der Wusten deserv~ a lot of gratitude for their stimulating and thorough criticism; Prof. Ad de Bruijne, Prof. Jan Hinderink and Prof. Pim Jungerius for reading the manuscript; Jan ter Haar for drawing the figures; Bert Vermaat for making fig. 4.5; Rob van Hussen for designing the front cover, Claire Renardel for word process·ing and editing assistance; Gerard Renardel for his logical comments and Philomeen van Dielen for allowing me to use her printer. Another type of 9ratitude goes to my parents aind parents-in-law, to my children Luuk and Richard and to my wife, colleague and critic Annemieke. To her I would like to dedicate this book.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Pastoralists in Dire Straits
There is considerable evidence of a major cr1s1s of pastoralism in Africa. Droughts are sometimes selected as primary causes, but population growth, ecological deterioration - or 1
desertification1
- and
an adverse political and economic environment are also often mentioned. Societies of largely autonomous mobile livestock herders seem to be doomed. Hjort exclaims that 11growing scores of people (are) being pushed
out of the pastoral economy11
(Hjort 1982, p.24). Campbell
&
Axinn (1980) wonder whether pastoralists are 11obsolete societies en route to extinction11
• Aronson (1984, p.74) writes: 11in every case that I know of,
pastoralism is losing ground11
• A leading development economist, who has
worked in African livestock development for many years, suggests that so-called traditional livestock systems are 11
without development potential11
(Jahnke 1982, p.223). Wherever possible, international development institutions and governments regard arable farming as the future for impoverished pastoralists; where this is not possible, migration to other areas or charity-dependence seem to be the only available options. Many former pastoralists have indeed turned into charity-dependent 1
peasants-cum-labourers1
at a poverty level that strikes observers (and themselves) as extreme, and without any accumulated wealth left. Recent studies on Kenya give saddening
examples: Hogg (1980) on Isiolo, O'Leary (1983) on Kitui, Odegi-Awuondo (1983) and Hogg (1983a) on Turkana.
The victims of the crisis of pastoralism mainly live in environments where rainfed food production is a very risky activity, where 1cash crop• farming is often hampered by input and marketing constraints, where many irrigation ventures have turned out to be expensive failures and where non-agricultural opportunities are very limited. Former
pastoralists in semi-arid areas are examples of a 'Fourth World', part of a global class of paupers. They are starvation-prone, without assets other than their own bodies. Their physical survival is at stake. On a more abstract level of analysis we may indeed wonder whether there is any chance of survival of a pastoral way of life.
1The Future of Pastoral Peoples• has become a popular theme in studies on Africa and the Middle East. A major conference in Nairobi, in 1980, had this title (Galaty e.a. 1981). In the journal 'Nomadic Peoples• it is discussed at length (mainly) by anthropologists. In the 'Pastoral Development Network' of the British Overseas Development Institute, planners and various brands of researchers exchange their views on the theme. Pastoral societies have long been a research domain for
anthropologists (although pastoral anthropologists claim that they occupy peripheral positions within anthropology, see Schneider 1984, p.55). All kinds of theoretical squabbles have taken place there, between 1culturalists1
, 1formalists1, 1feminists1, 1marxists1, 1
synthesists1 and others (1). Many anthropological studies show a 1one
studied in their environment: both the natural environment and the 'regional' environment, that is the relevant political, socio-economic and cultural context. Recently, pastoral anthropologists are discovering this historical, regional approach. Little's work is an example for Kenya (e.g. 1983). Tully provides an example for Pokot, calling her approach 'human ecology', but many other recent studies could be mentioned, on Kenya and elsewhere (in Dutch anthropology for instance
the work of Jorritsma 1979, on Niger). Anthropologists have moved
towards a 'geographical approach', if geography has a broad connotation, combining the physical environment - often confusingly called 'ecology' - with the socio-economic and political environment on various levels of scale. People's living conditions, and possibilities for improvement, are strongly embedded in this environment, although of course people are not 'determined' by their environment. People can change their
environment by migrating to other places. They can also change their environment by transforming it, both the 'physical' site-characteristics and the socio-economic and political context or 'situation'. Geography as a discipline studies the way people (individuals, households,
communities, institutions, of various levels of scale) are influenced by changing environments and the way environments are influenced by
changing people (see Van der Wusten
&
Heldring 1987, pp.21-26). In this study, this geographical approach will be applied to a particular group of people: pastoralists and former pastoralists in western Pokot, in a particular environment: a semi-arid area innorthwestern Kenya and northeastern Uganda, in a particular period: the 20th Century. The approach can perhaps be called a 'new regional
geography', in which 'internal' and 'external' influences on social change both get the attention which they deserve (see Kleinpenning & Reitsma 1987) and in which it is clear that human geographers have to make use of other disciplines, in particular physical geography and anthropology in this instance.
Four research questions are central to this study:
1. How crisis-prone is the economy in semi-arid western Pokot, due to threats from the physical environment?
2. What types of strategi,es have the people of western Pokot developed to survive these recurrent crises?
3. What impact did external interventions have on crises and on survival strategies of the western Pokot?
4. Under what conditions can pastoralism be a viable livelihood in western Pokot?
The concepts used in these research questions need some clarification: aridity will be dealt with in chapter 2; chapter 3 is devoted to the physical environment; who the 'people of western Pokot1
were/are is a topic of chapters 1.3 and 4. That leaves us with the concepts of 'crisis', 'survival strategies', 'external interventions' and 'pastoralism'.
'Pastoralism' is a livestock-(or better: pasture-)based economy. We prefer to operationalize this concept by demanding that livestock
completely sedentary and animal mobility is confined to the ranch (not included are zero-grazing and in-door types of livestock
enterprises). Livestock (pasture) is the basis of the definition, not mobility. Nomadic pastoralism is a specific type of pastoralism and even there •mobility• is often very variable; see Salzman 1980, p.13. The literature is full of conflicting and confusing definitions; see Yadeta 1985, p.23. If livestock products directly provide more than half of the food needs, we may call the economy •subsistence pastoralism•. If livestock products are sold or bartered and food is bought with the proceeds, the economy may be called •commercial pastoralism• (in that case the diet of pastoral households can be very much grain-dominated). If less than half of the food needs are covered by direct or indirect livestock products, but livestock is part of the economy, we may call the economy 1agro-pastoral1
• If livestock is used for manure and draught power, and if fodder is produced to feed the animals, we may call the economy 1
mixed farming•. In subsistence pastoralism, commercial
pastoralism, agro-pastoralism and mixed-farming, food needs may partly be covered by non-agricultural sources: hunting and gathering, charity (whatever its source), and various types of monetary income, earned by selling non-agricultural produce (minerals, handicrafts), services (petty trade, prostitution) or labour (permanent, seasonal, casual, workspaid, food paid). As soon as non-agricultural income covers more than half of the food needs it is better to speak about a 1mixed economy•. A complex typology could be developed, working with certain break-off points where 1agro-pastoralism1 becomes 1
purely1 arable, or where 1mixed economies• stop to be mixed (in case of strong wage dependence, or charity-dependence, or whatever non-agricultural
dependence). The way in which food consumption is covered is the core of this typology (see chapter four for a discussion about food needs and chapter seven for a conclusion).
1Crises1 are any depredations of wealth (in pastoral societies mainly animal wealth) and any situations of calamity-caused food shortages, and health threats, which endanger the physical continuity of life and the socio-economic continuity of an accustomed way of life. •survival strategies• are any devices which are used to pull through periods of crisis. The concept of •survival strategies• is currently used in many development studies, not only in the Third World but in Europe as well
(see Redclift 1986). According to Redclift the concept has its origin in Latin American urban studies in the 1970s (as 1estrategias de
supervivienca economica1
) in an attempt to move beyond 1marginality1 and 1
informal sector• analysis. The concept focusses on household behaviour under adverse conditions. But the concept is confusing because the underlying concept of 1
crisis1
is unclear. In our opinion, the concept of 1
crisis1
should be reserved to periods of drops in livelihood levels (by droughts, floods, cyclones, epidemics, war, violence, price-drops of produce or any other causes). Crises are experienced as a rather severe deterioration in wealth, health and food supply, although the 1
to use 1self-rescue1 instead of 1survival 1 under these circumstances of
extreme, long-term poverty, as Van Schendel (1987) suggests in a very interesting study on 11self-rescue and survival in Bangladesh". People
who do have sufficient food normally, and who do have some capital (land, animals) at their disposal are in a different position. For them, the loss of capital and severe food shortages are clearly a
deterioration, compared to former experience. If they are aware of risks, their 1
survival 1
and recovery not only depends on the methods of survival applied during and after a crisis. Their 1
surviva1 1
and recovery capacity will also depend on their preparedness for crises, during 1
normal 1
circumstances. Van Apeldoorn (1981, p.92) speaks about "mechanisms to deal with adversity, of both a precautionary and a coping nature". Streefland (1987, p.4) suggests to differentiate between short-term curative and long-short-term preventive "modes of survival" (as well as short-term preventive and long-term curative).
We suggest that at least three meanings of 1survival 1 should be discerned, all with its own goal (and with a different time horizon): a. the basic survival of individuals and households, trying to avoid
death during a crisis; here 1survival1 means: staying alive;
b. the short term and longr term economic survival of household wealth, despite the occasional occurrence of disasters, which may suddenly destroy the accumulated wealth of households or whole communities; c. the long term survival of a 1
way of life1
, e.g. pastoralism or - more
generally - a peasant mode of socio-economic existence, despite threatening attacks on this 1way of life1
; here not 1individual 1 or
1household1 survival are at stake, but the survival of a sociological category (see De Janvry 1981); even broader is the notion of
•cultural survival 1
: the resilience of certain 1ethnic1 practices and
beliefs - often in an accommodated form - despite penetration of e.g. westernization or christianity/islam.
In this study we will use 1
physical survival 1
, •survival of (animal) wealth1 (or 1capital1 survival) and •survival of pastoralism•
respectively, to avoid the! conceptual confusion which abounds in this field. •survival of pastoralism' can be further differentiated. After a crisis the recovery of pastoralism asks for strategies to rebuild the herd and flock. In a large number of instances, however, rebuilding the herd to a stock density PE!r capita level commensurate with subsistence pastoralism (see later) is impossible. The survival of pastoralism can be safeguarded in two other ways, as we will see in Chapter 4: by pastoral intensification and by pastoral commercialization.
Theoretically, both strategies can prevent the extinction of pastoralism as a way of life, even if traditional •subsistence pastoralism• can no longer exist.
The concept of 'strategy• is confusing too. Ten years a.go, most students of development problems would immediately think in terms of governmental or institutional development strategies, with 1goals1
, 1aims1 and 1
means1
; in terms of 1pro;jects1 and 1programmes1 with 1output1, 1effects1 and 1impact1
• A host of 1monitoring1 and 1evaluation1
literature is part of the results (e.g. Casley
&
Lury 1982, Clayton&
Petry 1983). During the 1980s, both in planning and in academic circles, the role of institutional development 1
strategies1
, the impact of development 1
projects1
, has been more and more discredited. For some,
meant to attract foreign donor funds, to be used by a political elite and with no impact on regional development. For others, well-meant
1development strategies• can only be broad outlines, at best 1catalysts 1 for growth or modernization at a local level. 1Macro-strategies 1 and
•state interventionism• are no longer fashionable.
On the other hand, thousands of local fieldwork studies repeatedly proved that people themselves have their own livelihood approaches and -if they are living in insecure environments - their own modes of
survival against the livelihood threats, be they natural, political or economic. Schmink (1984, p.89) writes: 11
in contrast to the earlier tendency to conceive of poor populations as passive 1victims 1, the concept of •survival strategies• highlighted their active, productive role in society11
(quoted in Rutten 1987, p.3; the concept of 1survival 1, however, is unclear). No longer 1peasants 1 or 1pastoralists 1 can be pictured as passive respondents to external or 1contextual 1 impulses, as people who live from day to day, without any 1planning for tomorrow•. They are often much better strategists than the development planners above. Actor-oriented approaches (Long 1986) prove that peasant or pastoral households have their own strategies, with long term goals (e.g. a sufficient herd), short-term aims (e.g. food security during a drought) and a host of methods. These goals, aims and methods often conflict with the 1institutional 1 strategies, a most obvious difference being the fact that long term household security and survival of
household wealth are more important than gains in yields and income: a low-risk, low-income strategy is often preferred to income, high-risk ventures (see Binswanger e.a. 1980, Cancian 1980).
Critics of the use of 'strategy' for poor households's modes of
adaptation to harsh circumstances say that the concept of strategy puts too much emphasis on rationality and on freedom of choice (e.g. Rutten 1987, Van Schayk 1987). For us, this is precisely the reason to use the concept. As we will show in this study, the poor indeed play active and inventive roles - although within constraints of course-; they do it by weighing negative and positive consequences; they can indeed choose between various options, and if they do, it is more a matter of deliberate decision making than a matter of irrational behaviour. It does not matter whether responses are new or part of a so-called patterned response (Streefland 1987) or lifestyle (Beals 1975, see Van Schayk 1987). Other points of criticism are the suggestion of household unity and the neglect of the macro-level (e.g. White 1980). The
sanctification of the household level may be a weakness of some household strategy studies, but there is no reason why students of household survival strategies could not study the impact of the outer world or the internal differentiation within households.
In general, it is wise to differentiate between household 1livelihood-improvement1 strategies and 1survival 1 strategies, the last ones
specifically dealing with actual or expected periods of crises. In semi-arid areas, with extreme natural insecurity, it is questionable if there is much room for 1livelihood 1 strategies beyond survival strategies. Households are very much aware of the high vulnerability: natural disasters can happen any time and non-natural attacks can always be expected. Livelihood strategies must be survival strategies in the first place, if households want to avoid to be defeated by a harsh
In the literature about semi-arid Kenya, there is one outstanding
example of a study about indigenous survival strategies during and after droughts: the dissertation written by Wisner (1978). Wisner discerns seventy-four possible practices of, what he calls, 'drought
adjustments•, in eastern Kenya, especially the Tharaka area of Meru. He also looks at the accessibility of these practices for classes of farmers, from the very rich to the very poor, in a community with extreme polarization. Fifty of his 1
practices1
are more or less
agricultural strategies, part of them only accessible to the very rich. His agricultural practices can be further split into two: livestock and crop adjustment strategies. But Wisner also mentions a number of non-agricultural 'drought adjustments•, part of them of a demographic nature. Wisner1s study was very important to set the tune for our own work. Other valuable studies were those by Porter (1979), Hogg
(e.g.1980) and Gufu
&
Lusigi (1987).This leaves us with one concept to deal with: external interventions. The Pokot - as any people - are not an isolated, autonomous group, coping with a natural environment alone. In the course of their history they had to deal with inf'luences from a wider environment. Neighbouring people - Karimojong, Sebe·i, Turkana, Maasai - acted as 1checks and
challenges•, as allies and enemies. We will deal with their influence in parts of Chapter 4. During the 19th Century caravans became a new
external phenomenon; during the 20th Century state institutions,
missions and (some) entrepreneurs from the outside. It is difficult to categorize the external interventions in order to study their impact on the economy, and especia1·1y on the survival strategies, of western Pokot. First it is important to separate the interventions by
1
neighbours1 from those of 1institutions1
• How to deal with the
·institutional interventions? It is not uncommon to see all institutional interventions in the light ~fa 1
penetration1 or 1
incorporation1
process, in which international capitalism, via the state, eats into a non-capitalist, locally autonomous and highly self supporting society
(e.g. Cliffe, Coleman
&
Doornbos, 1977). On the other hand it is not difficult to see that most current institutional interventions are presented under a 1development1 umbrella. All investments, even police bases, are included under the 'development budget• and are part of1
development plans•. 1
Development1 has become a •container concept•. Any ·investment and any inducement of change is regarded as part of I forward 1 and 1upward1 processes of improvement, but improvement defined by whom,
for whom, where, influencing what aspects of life, and for how long? Development is a normativ1e concept, reflecting the norms of those who use it, their priorities, their 1
weights1
• How do we value the
1
development1
of a region where all people have recently learned how to read and write, where chi'ld death rates have gone down considerably, where real cash income has more than trebled in a few years time, where most people have lost the collective and individual ownership of the land, where almost all have become Christians, where animal wealth has gone down from a high level to a very low level and where local
political autonomy has be1en eroded to a large degree? On top of all that, the 1
underdevelopment1
polarization may increase; that interference can freeze indigenous processes of change and that it can block indigenous processes of accumulation of wealth (for some or for a community as a whole). Categorization of external institutional interventions in terms of 'incorporation' and 'development' bears the weight of all those considerations.
In this study we will restrict the term 'development intervention' to those activities which directly improve the level of living (esp. the quality of health, food, water, energy, clothing, shelter, and
education) and those activities which increase or improve the means of production (land, water, animals, tools, seeds, but labour power as well). All interventions outside the direct improvement or increase of means of production and outside the improvement of the level of living will be grouped under the concept of 'incorporation': the
intensification of commercial, communicative and institutional links between a local community and the extra-local (or even global)
environment (Pearse 1975; see Hardeman 1984, p.25) but also: a larger conformity between a community's culture and economy and an influencing environment. Incorporating interventions include attempts at
commercialization (the relative increase of commodity market participation, see Hinderink
&
Sterkenburg 1979, 1~80, 1987) and 'capitalist transformation' (the change towards private ownership of material means of production, and towards wage-labour - the relative increase of labour market participation; see Dietz&
Van Haastrecht 1982). However, the study of incorporation attempts should not be confined to economic interventions. It also includes mobilizationattempts (the increased participation in higher scale organizations; see Heinemeijer 1968). And we will see that the establishment and
strengthening of state power, and the construction of a hegemonic
apparatus is a major element of incorporation. We may call it 'political integration'. A specific aspect of incorporation is cultural change, in the restricted sense of attempts to change beliefs, values and attitudes in the direction of a penetrating ideology, be they 'westernization',
'christianity' or - in a more general sense - 'modernization' (it may, of course, also be islamization, 'African socialism' etc.).
If we look at the gamut of interventions which can empirically be determined, part of the 'development interventions' - following our definition - clearly have 'incorporation' aspects as well. The
improvement of labour, via health care and formal education, is a most obvious case in point. Health care does result in the availability of more, healthier labour power - in a society like the Pokot, this is of great importance to enable physical mobility and agricultural strength. But health care is also used as a political tool to increase der Geest, 1986, shows clear examples from Cameroon). Missionary societies, coming to 'virgin' areas like Pokot, are quick to make health care their first service, their crow-bar. Education not only enhances the knowledge of (future) workers - although not always adequate for their immediate surroundings - it also functions as a major tool of cultural
modernization and of national cultural integration; in other words, besides a 'development' intervention it is an incorporation intervention as well. On the other hand, incorporation can enhance development: road building and credit facilities for traders can result in
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J ,·PIIKO~ I TESO (. ka~~ • : , : • 1• s=f:, ("J SAMBURU ( lleso I \'-·"> ·,;. 7 . . ch-, ~ . .., I / SEBEI-~~__:_?'·~ (
I samburu I • ' · , •• TRANS--:-7 · ~ ~ ·-. _I ~ / , NZDIA '· EM l=iigmyane,.1 - 7 BUGISUt; \. r--r·-"'· ,.-····. ,•mb / • \ ) · ·., / ·-· ' . .J ( I n : =·,-·· WESTERN C UASIM\ t,niemps I v ~
_: PROVINCE \ ·,. GISHU i \ BARI NGO ! LAIKIPIA / ( ' - - ~ luhya I J '· i. _j I tugen I/'.
j / I luo I i.... _/ NANDI
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J f'J \'--NYANZA - · - · -.. __ ., -,...f· . , . .) ( j NAKURU !KERICIIO \ PROVINCE I I kipsi11is I . • I
!
I maasai I - ···-··· international boundary - • - · - · district boundary••... · ••••··· divisional or county boundary
TURKANA district
pian division or county
a
Pokot territory I tugen I ethnic group0 50 100
EM Elgeyo Marakwet District ch Chepareria Division Kapenguria Division Sigor Division Labwor County m Moroto Town mb Mbale Town 150
Figure 1.1 Administrative and Ethnic Regions: NW Kenya,. NE Uganda, 1986
consumption levels. Increased army and police presence, even increased repression, can (not always does) result in higher, more stable
productivity, and in a decrease of theft or raids. These
'classificatory• difficulties should be kept in mind, when reading Chapter 5.
1.2 The Research Area
The research area measures 7,500 square kilometres and currently has approximately 100,000 inhabitants, most of them Pokot. The area of western Pokot covers the western part of West Pokot District in Kenya and Upe County of Karamoja in Uganda. West Pokot District is situated in northwest Kenya, bordering Upe in the west and Sebei District - also in Uganda - in the southwest. In Kenya the southern borders are the large farms of Trans Nzoia District and the Cherangani forests of Elgeyo Marakwet District. In the east we find the plains of Baringo District, inhabited by the 'East Pokot1
• In the north and northeast there are the plains of Turkana District.
Upe County is the easternmost part of Moroto District, Karamoja.
Virtually all of it is semi-arid. Upe County border.s on its western side Matheniko, Pian and Kadam Counties of Moroto District, and Sebei
District (Figure 1.1).
As we will see, the semi-arid areas of West Pokot cover most of the District, but they can be differentiated in two zones:
- the western area, with a long history of mainly pastoral land use with minor rainfed cultivation activities and only recently a strong increase in cultivation and in non-agricultural ventures;
- the eastern area, with longstanding indigenous (or 'traditional') irrigation practices and a pastoral economy, which has strong links with Eastern Pokot in Baringo District.
We will concentrate our study on Upe and the western part of semi-arid West Pokot. The eastern part of West Pokot District, with its very complex irrigation practices and different pastoral realm, justifies a book of its own. Readers who are interested in this eastern part of the Pokot area are referred to Schneider 1953, Porter 1965, Muir 1985, Tully 1985 and to the Locational Development Profiles which we have made for the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) Development Programme of West Pokot
( 2).
Upe and the western part of West Pokot can be regarded as one economic region, although with unclear economic boundaries: sometimes sharing grazing lands with the Karimojong to the west and with the Turkana to the north and east; also, there are normally some food exchange contacts with the southern and Sook highlands, both inhabited by so-called
'agricultural' or 1
hill1
Pokot. That we regard western West Pokot and Upe as one economic region can be defended by pointing at the fact that the area forms one herd mobility realm during droughts and by the fact that the area has a more or less identical economic history: a pastoral economy until about 1970 and drastic changes towards a diversified economy afterwards; a change from an emphasis on the plains within the region to an emphasis on the mountainous and river valley parts.
history. It offers interesting material for political-geographical
speculations. Although most of the area formally belonged to Kenya since
1926 - after some unclarity between 1902 and 1926 - the area northwest
of the Suam River has been administered by Uganda between 1932 and 1970,
together with Upe. This means that even after Independence (Uganda 1962,
Kenya 1963) the administration of a Kenyan area was in the hands of a neighbouring state. Only ·in 1970 this 1Karapokot area• was returned to Kenya and regarded as 1Kenya mpya1 or 1new Kenya• afterwards. The people
of the Karapokot area wer1e successively subjected to the governments of Kenya Colony, Uganda Protectorate, the Republic of Uganda (under Prime Minister and later President Obote) and the Republic of Kenya (first
under Prime Minister, lat,er President Kenyatta and subsequently under President Moi).
It is probably informative to give a brief description of the research area, as we have experienced it between 1982 and 1986 (Figure 1.2).
Political life in West Pokot centres around Kapenguria, economic life around its 1twin city• Makutano. Together they have approx.
5,000
inhabitants. These centres are located at 2,000 meters above
sea level in the humid highlands of the District, which are full of maize, beans and dairy cattle nowadays. Recently, in 1981, Kapenguria-Makutano were connected with the regional centre of Kitale in Trans Nzoia District by an excellent tarmac road (40 km), which further leads to the town of Eldoret, the Provincial Headquarters of Nakuru (at 300
km) and the national capital Nairobi (at 450 km). This tarmac road also connects Kapenguria with Lodwar in Turkana District (250 km) and
traverses through central and eastern West Pokot, opening up an hitherto very isolated area. Before 1981 a journey from Kapenguria to Kitale during the (long) rainy season was extremely difficult.
Near Makutano one can climb a few hills and have a magnificent view on the plains below. The difference in altitude is more than 1,000 meters. Looking north one can see the Escarpment, separating the lowland plains and the Sook highland plateau. This escarpment is the natural boundary between the eastern and western Pokot lands. Looking at the horizon one can see far away Mount Kadam, part of the Chemorongit Hills and - if the weather permits - even Mount Moroto. Minor hills are v·isible too, for instance Kacheliba Hill and Kapchok Hill, both with a peculiar shape. Looking down, a green ribbon is clearly visible, the Suam River vegetation. It is the only perennial river in the research area.
From Makutano a difficult road goes down the escarpment to the northwest and reaches the plains at a place called Mtembur, with a church and a few ramshackle shops. In the meantime one has seen most incredible gullies. By car the descent only takes twenty minutes. But on foot one feels the words of an adult education officer, complaining that 11
the climbing up and climbing down is taxing in terms of exhaustion11 (WP
Dept. of Ad. Educ. AR 1982). From Mtembur a minor road goes to another small centre, recently enriched with a health dispensary: Serewa. From there one can go to the a.rea of the Kanyarkwat Group Ranch and up again to the Trans Nzoia highlands.
The main road continues to Kongelai Group Ranch until it reaches Kongelai Centre, on the Suam River. Here there are a few shops, and
1
hotelis1
, these typical places where you can get 1chai na mandazi1:
side of the Suam River, nowadays full of 'shambas' (fields). Crossing a number of wide seasonal rivers, one reaches the sorghum fields and settlements of the Sook lowlands and ultimately the Korpu gold area,
a place where a South African gold prospector had his camp during the 1950s and where after 1979 many Pokot and Turkana (and occasional foreign adventurers) tried their luck.
Near Kongelai, a minor road branches to Chesera and from there either to Chepkopegh - a major goat's market r.owadays - and further to the Sook highlands (Chepnyal, with a footpath to Ptoyo, with its dispensary and school), or to Chepareria, an important market place and since 1979 a Divisional Headquarters. Many farms are situated here nowadays. In Chepareria a Norwegian/Icelandic Lutheran mission has been established recently, not far from an Irish Catholic Mission which started in 1974. A dispensary, a Youth Polytechnic, a Secondary School and a lot of shops make it a thriving centre. The growth of Chepareria has certainly been stimulated a lot by the tarmac road. Many matatus - those crowded public vehicles so typical for Kenya - bridge the 20 km distance to Kapenguria. We can start our journey again to Kongelai.
On foot and with animals it is not too difficult to cross the Suam River, but with a car there is in fact only one crossing: the Suam
bridge between Kongelai and Kacheliba Centre. One ~nters the plains west of the Suam River, which are called 'Kapcheripko' by the Pokot.
Kacheliba is a major centre nowadays, with more than 40 shop buildings, although not all are used and the used ones are not always open. In Kacheliba you can also find the Divisional Headquarters, a major Army camp, a Divisional Police Centre and a large Roman Catholic mission (Italians this time; since 1973) always to be recognized by its
beautiful trees and carefully maintained vegetable gardens. Also there are some other churches and there is a large Government Health Centre, not far from the Catholic dispensary. After 1970, Kacheliba was revived from obscurity, to become the new headquarters of 'Karapokot', later
1Kacheliba1 Division. Until 1930 it had even been the District
Headquarters - strangely enough situated in an area not recognized by Uganda to be Kenyan. When the district staff moved to Kapenguria (1930) and when also an Anglican Mission left for the highland (1936), only two shops were left and nothing else.
From Kacheliba one can go to the southwest, to an excellent grazing area that experienced severe insecurity lately and where the General Service Unit of the Army now tries to restore law and order. Not far from there, just across the border, a large temporal settlement existed in 1984-85, a gold place called Chepkarerat. Insecurity, gold fever, miserable living conditions and a 'quick rich' attitude made it an outlaw place. The other former centres in southern Upe (Karita, Lokales) are abandoned
nowadays.
Less dangerous is the road from Kacheliba to the north. Via some minor school settlements one reaches Kodich Centre and furtheron Kunyao Centre. Until there you can go back with the 1matatu1 taxi, once a day,
to Makutano a two and a half hour ride. In Kodich you will always meet the Chief of Kapchok Location and he will tell about the latest
Figure 1. 2 Mount Moroto
,,,
... I \ I \r,
I '-, ,;, I \ I \I
I \ J \ -&" (. ,./ \ ) 'l \ Nauyapong {~ 11111111 ,,~,.,.,.,.,. \ \ • Kal•P!I• I Lokitanyala ~,.,. " ~ \ Sasak ---,___ ~ ; \ Amakuriat ',,,,11,,,~~ Alale \ fl!illll\'"'"''' ,,,,,, • CHEMORONGIT \ HILLSI \, ...
i.~.'. ....
Kaurio-;;~" \, j 'l \ international boundary administrative boundaryZone Ill-IV boundary
river
tarmac road
other road centre
abandoned centre
boundary game reserve
-l
_tKAMUNONO\ 0 10 20 km~l!l,~~,::,l,n)
\ '----'----'
\
\
or even 1
pilau1 (flavoured rice). If you don1t want chai, you can have a 1
soda1
if you are lucky: in the most incredible places you can drink coca cola, pepsi cola, fanta or sprite, mostly 1moto1
(hot), but
refreshing during the hot days. Driving on the road you hardly see huts. But as soon as one gets out, people come from nowhere and they might bring you to their 1manyattas1
, groups of huts, surrounded by a fence of thorn bushes. Sometimes you receive some 1
black1
milk, a bit of sorghum porridge or a local brew. The more you go to the Uganda side, the more huts are grouped together. Manyattas near 1the enemy• might have more than fifty huts even (Andersen 1978, pp217-236 gives a nice description of Pokot •traditional architecture1
) .
From Kodich a road branches to Nakwijit Centre, a traditional market place where Pokot from the western plains used to exchange milk and goats for grains brought by inhabitants of the Sook highlands. Nakwijit is now in the middle of an extended area of riverine cultivation,
although - as everywhere along the Suam River - people fear malaria mosquitoes and tsetse flies. Only few actually live along the river. Most cultivators walk the three to five kilometres between their huts and fields. The plains are regarded as much more healthy.
From Kunyao an old road branches to Amudat in Uganda, the centre for the Upe Pokot and not far from the Kenya border. There ~s no border post.
(Officially you need permission from the District Commissioner in Kapenguria to cross the border, sometimes this is checked by policemen stationed· in Kunyao). Besides the mission hospital and a few shops there is not much left in Amudat, nowadays. All the shops are closed. From Amudat the road goes on to Loroo and across the Kenya border again to Lokitanyala, a very minor centre nowadays, but of some importance in the past. From Amudat a road goes to the west (Moruita) and further north to Moroto, headquarters of Moroto District, more than 100 km away and
mostly through Karimojong territory, for a Pochon (singular for Pokot) not a nice thing to do. But of course he can go through the bush of Upe, from Amudat a stiff walk of sixteen hours. From Amudat to Kunyao (and its 1matatu1 further to Kapenguria) is another six hour walk.
After 1970 a new road was made from Kunyao to the north, this time all inside 1
New1
Kenya. First one has to cross the very wide Kanyangareng River, which is impossible during the rains; there is no bridge. The river is mostly dry, however. From there the road goes to Lossam - after Kacheliba and Kunyao the third place where the Police can ask you "what the hell are you doing here". North of Lossam, Kiwawa Centre was
recently developed by fundamentalist American missionaries from the ACCK mission. It includes a health centre. To the east a mountainous area rises: the Chemorongit Hills or 1
Korokou1
in Pokot language, with
Tarakit, Tarakwet, Pcholio and Tenus peaks. Recently rainfed cultivation proved to be a possibility. Some schools were built and Kasei developed as a minor centre. To the south of Korokou one can find the Suam River again, and the Korpu gold camp. East of it recently the building started of the Turkwell Gorge Dam, a very large hydro-electricity project.
North of the Korokou we find another mountain range: Kopokoch or Kubbakou in Pokot, with the Lorosuk, Kachagalau and Kalapata peaks, forested areas which are recently being deforested to make room for rainfed farming. Here we also find major gold places nowadays. Between Kubbakou and Korokou a minor centre developed recently: Kauriong.
