Poor network coverage an impediment to anti-banditry efforts

While attending a public rally at Bartabwa Trading Centre in Baringo North, Baringo County on February 23, 2017, the current head of state, then Deputy President William Ruto, had to cut short his speech following a hail of gunshots from a nearby thicket.

There was no way the contingent of elite security officers guarding the DP could know that the Ng’orora Location Chief Thomas Chelegen had been shot by suspected Pokot bandits.

This is due to lack of mobile network coverage in the entire Bartabwa Division.

The chief was among a team of Kenya Police Reservists responding to an attack in a nearby village by the bandits.

In an attempt to repulse the gun-wielding criminals, Chelgen was fatally shot.

He tried to run for his life, but immediately lost contact with his patrol team.

It was impossible for the administrator to call them or send a text message even while at his hideout.

The marauding bandits circled him and had a field day watching him bleed to death.

A security officer who spoke to AVDelta News revealed that if there were good communication in the area, the chief’s life could have been saved.

“We could have saved his life. He died a painful dead. He suffered under the hands of bandits. The lack of mobile network made things worse for him because he could have called and of course we could respond immediately,” said a senior Bartabwa Administration Police (AP) officer who cannot be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The incident underscores the challenges residents of Bartabwa Ward brave daily to due to lack of mobile network connectivity.

Marauding bandits in the area always have a field day knowing well that security personnel will take hours to respond to distress calls due to lack of mobile network coverage.

At Bartabwa Centre alone, where the Assistant County Commissioner’s office is located, there is no way anyone can respond to an emergency.

Adjacent to the office is 20-bed capacity Bartabwa Health Centre, a Primary School and Arap Moi Secondary School.

Even as the Ministry of Education and the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) calls for tougher online reporting for teachers, there is no way teachers in Bartabwa can file their periodic returns on time.

Mr Willy Lang’at, who is the headteacher at Bartabwa Day and Boarding Primary School, says that they are forced to travel to Kipsaraman town, some 19 kilometres away, to access internet services.

“We incur a lot of losses in travel just to remit teacher lesson booking, lesson observation and to file KRA returns among other key requirements by the Ministry. Those who fail to submit these requirements may miss their salary. So you can picture how network accessibility is important to all Kenyans at this age especially here in Bartabwa Divison,” says Mr Lang'at.

"It will be joy of unimaginable proportions if let us Safaricom today installs a booster in this area. There is no life without access to mobile phone network in this era. We are right at the middle of tech revolution; I beseech Safaricom and other telecommunication companies to consider our pleas," he added.

Business people have had fair share of their frustrations too.

Mr Kaino Cheserek, a businessman living in the area says that although Safaricom M-Pesa remains a life changer, there is was no such service in the area.

Mr Cheserek says after observing the suffering of the residents, he decided to obtain an M-Pesa agent in 2019.

Those seeking to undertake a transaction, he narrates, are forced to travel some 19 kilometres away to access Safaricom network. 

Once they withdraw or deposit money, they bring him an M-Pesa transaction message so that he releases the cash.

And even after seeing the message, he cannot forward it to his mobile number because of the limited network.

He only operates on trust and goodwill of a people brought together by a common challenge.

“Upon seeing your M-Pesa transaction message, I therefore record it on the Safaricom agency record book for due diligence,” he says.

But there are times he has fallen into the hands of cons.

“There are a number of times cunning individuals create dummy transactions messages and since I cannot verify immediately, I lose my money," he says.

“After I close my shop in the evening, I take a motorbike and rush to far flung place where I can access Safaricom network. That is when I sit down and retrieve all the day’s transactions and confirm them from those which I have given out money at the shop. It is pure sacrifice. I often run at a loss. I plead for Safaricom to come to our rescue as the business community,” he says.

At the nearby Kapturo village, a middle aged man was last week attacked by a swarm of armed bandits who lay ambush along the route.

They tried to shoot him, but he escaped through an alley. But they could not leave him scot-free. He was hit by a stone on the chest. He braved the pain for seven(7) hours through the thickets as there was no way he could call to inform his people due to poor network coverage.

To find an ambulance to take him to the hospital, someone had to literally run to the next Health facility to pass the message.

“The young man escaped death by a whisker. The criminals know there is no network coverage in this area that is why they can ambush people and attack them at their will,” says Andrew Chebelieny, a resident of Setek village.

At least 20 people have been shot dead and 14 schools shut down since the beginning of 2024 alone in Baringo South and Baringo North sub-counties.

More than 100 people including security personnel were killed in 2023 alone prompting the government to term six(6) banditry-prone counties in the region among them Turkana, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet, Baringo, Laikipia and Samburu as 'disturbed and dangerous'.

It then rolled out a massive security operation to restore calm in the area coordinated by police and assisted by the military.