Gateway to conflict? Political violence in Kenya’s pastoralist north since devolution

This article interprets rising violence and conflict among pastoralists in Kenya’s arid north as strategies designed to expand territorial control across the contemporary political arena created by devolution. Kenya implemented devolution in 2013 – alongside land reforms and development plans – , in response to major election violence in 2007/8. The reforms were intended to mitigate future such outbreaks of political violence. While subsequent elections have indeed been deemed ‘peaceful’ nationally, in Kenya’s predominantly pastoralist north, violence has climbed since 2013 – though it is seldom described as ‘political violence’. Using political ethnography and conflict analysis covering 2022–2024, this article examines the micro-case of Mlango, a stretch of grassland between Isiolo, Samburu and Laikipia counties in central-northern Kenya, which has become a key conflict hotspot. I map the violence, crime and displacement involving livestock herders around Mlango across the political and territorial grid created by devolution and accompanying reforms. I identify the ways that local politicians strategically encouraged these activities in seeking to position themselves ahead of Kenya’s 2022 elections, and to lay the ground for future political and land claims.