Kapedo Bridge: The dreaded channel at the centre of bandit attacks

It is along this Bridge that countless lives of members of the Pokot and Turkana communities have been lost. Among the prominent persons to be killed at the channel was the GSU Commander Amadau Tebakok, who was shot on January 17, 2021.

The Kapedo Bridge is the only gate way to Kapedo in Turkana East, and the shortest way out to those heading to Kenya's capital, Nairobi from Lodwar town.

Decades of conflicts over a boundary has made the residents of the little town which has a land size of 18 hactares become locked at their homes, as going nearly 500 metres further could lead to death.

The other route into and out of Kapedo is through Lomelo – Napeitom – Lokori across the Kasarani plains. This route is neither safe having a history of 21 police officers being shot dead. The road terrain is not good either thus providing a chance for ambushed attacks to be staged.

The Bridge lies on a valley and hills on either side. It is this elevated area that the bandits take position on either side and owing to its narrowness, make it impossible for any vehicle to turn in case of an attack.

When an attack happens on this bridge, no one comes out alive unless those on armed personnel carriers trucks. After an attack, many caves are formed in the area to provide a hiding place with some caves having exit routes.

It is for this reason that for 27 years, Kapedo has never had a public transport system. The last public transport was in 1997 when they used to have Achegei bus that was plying Kapedo – Chemolingot - Nakuru route to ferry the warrying communities.

The only means of transport to Kapedo today are police lorries and land cruisers, which only ply the route on Monday and Thursday. During these days, residents have to shop for the entire week, to get firewood since it is unsafe to fetch firewood 500 metres away from Kapedo.

Sometimes the lorries are overloaded as it was the case in an incident where 21 people died through road accident at Moinonin after the police lorry was involved in an accident. Teachers and students from the region are not spared and no one is safe in the valley.

In a peace mission spearheaded by Interpeace organization, Country Director  Hasan Ismael said that impediment to peace in the region has been illiteracy and underdevelopment.

Nearly everybody in the Suguta region lacks basic education, a situation caused by the area having no development for decades.

Peace actors are taking the lead role of uniting communities who were not seeing each other eye to eye is one of the ways of trying to open the region to stability and development.