West Pokot County

West Pokot exists because the escarpment exists—the dramatic drop from the Cherang'any Hills into the Kerio Valley creates terrain that has historically isolated the Pokot people while concentrating resources into contested zones. This is cattle country, where livestock remain "the measure of wealth" and cattle raiding has been cultural practice for generations.

But cultural raiding has transformed into violent conflict. Competition over shrinking water and pasture—intensified by climate change—has made livestock theft more frequent, brutal, and destructive. Small arms proliferation has militarized what was once managed through traditional negotiation. The Turkana-West Pokot border, one of Kenya's longest, has become a zone of chronic insecurity where pastoralist communities suffer regular violence.

2025 brought infrastructure intervention: the Kerio Valley Development Authority is rehabilitating the Sh20 million water pan at Cheparkule, expanding capacity to 35,000 cubic metres. The logic is simple: shared water reduces migration that triggers conflict. Residents confirm that adequate local water eliminates need for dangerous movements into contested territory.

The county exhibits classic pastoral conflict dynamics: scarce resources, weakened traditional governance, available weapons, and insufficient state presence. Minimal collaboration between county governments compounds the problem—leaders sometimes incite communities over boundary disputes rather than developing joint resource-sharing arrangements. By 2026, whether water infrastructure and cross-county cooperation can reduce violence—or whether the conflict economy continues—will determine if West Pokot's pastoralism has a peaceful future.