By Stephen Makabila 

NAIROBI, KENYA: In a statement perhaps meant to pass as a mere gag at the end of his speech during President Uhuru’s inauguration, Ugandan President unintentionally stirred the hornet’s nest.

Museveni’s remarks that pointed to the cattle rustling activities perpetrated by the Pokots who neighbour Uganda, attracted condemnation and support in equal measures from the community leaders.

While it is a home truth that cattle rustling are rampant in the region, and indeed in other parts of the country, some leaders opt to live in denial.

But for those who admit it, they hope the existence of county governments, which are expected to bring development in the affected counties, will help end the age-old practice.

Helicopter gunship

Indeed, a section of leaders from the cattle rustling prone areas have joined hands and come up with a raft of proposals to help end the menace.

The MPs from Meru, Isiolo and Samburu have for instance asked the Government to station a helicopter gunship on standby at either Isiolo Airport or 78 Tank Battalion to help security officials respond swiftly after the raids.

West-Pokot Senator, Prof. John Lonyangapuo, who welcomed Museveni at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on his arrival, told The Standard that Museveni’s remarks were genuine and made in good faith.

Museveni had caused a stir at Kasarani when he asked Uhuru to intervene and stop Pokots from stealing his cattle.

Enraged MPs from the county, David Pkosing, Mark Lomunokol and Philip Rotino expressed their disappointment with him, saying that such statement even though made on a light note, tends to demonise a whole community.

“Museveni spoke from his heart and conscience. He met a learned Pokot leader who is a professor at the airport and wondered why this menace has to continue when the community has enlightened leaders,” noted Lonyangapuo.

Museveni’s efforts

Now, Lonyangapuo wants the Kenyan government to emulate Museveni’s efforts that have ensured the vice is eradicated on the Ugandan side of the border.

“MPs from my county were hurt by the comments, but it’s a problem we have to face and eradicate the way Museveni has done on his side of the border. This problem has persisted in West-Pokot because of neglect since the government’s presence is zero,” said Lonyangapuo.

Over the years, politics and commercial trade in livestock have been partly blamed for the menace, while at times its viewed as a culture embedded among communities in affected areas.

But Lonyangapuo dismisses the view that cattle rustling were being fuelled by political, economic and cultural factors.

“In a county like West-Pokot where the government has neglected residents since 1963, the norm is ‘survival for the fittest’. People steal cattle for food and because of lack of the rule of law. The government only appears when massacres occur due to insecurity,” added Lonyangapuo.

Dr Masibo Lumala, a Communications lecturer at Moi University concurs that rustling is largely due to desperation on the communities involved, and that government engineered development can help reverse the trend.

Weapons availability

The practice of cattle rustling remains a major cause of insecurity and conflict not only in West-Pokot but also amongst the pastoral communities in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) of Samburu, Turkana, Marakwet, Isiolo and Marsabit counties that mainly rely on livestock farming and pastoralism for their subsistence.

Recent upsurge of incidents of cattle rustling in these areas has been greatly facilitated by availability of small arms and light weapons.

Incidents of gross human rights violations including wanton killings, rape, torture and loss of property have been reported among the warring factions of the pastoral communities.

Of concern is the fact that although cattle rustling seem to be a perennial problem, there has been no effective intervention by the state to curb this practice.

Officers killed

In the worst single incident for Kenyan police in living memory, 38 officers were killed in Samburu late last year by heavily armed cattle rustlers.

The police officers were part of a contingent that was on an operation to recover cattle belonging to members of the Samburu community that had been stolen by the Turkanas. They were ambushed in a valley when a large group of Turkana fired on police, leaving dozens dead and many injured.

Tit-for-tat operations

The Turkana and Samburu, both pastoralist groups, have frequently engaged in tit-for-tat cattle rustling operations over many years. Villages in the region are heavily fortified by residents, and it’s not unusual to see cattle herders armed with automatic rifles.

The killings saw the then two Turkana MPs, Ekwe Ethuro (now Senate Speaker) and Daniel Nanok (now Turkana County Governor) arrested and charged in court, before being cleared.

Turkana has equally been engaging in serious cattle rustling attacks with their Pokot neighbours, activities which have undermined development and affected operations of the Turkwel Power project which falls on the common border of the two counties.

Lonyangapuo said the solution to cattle rustling is for the Kenyan government to secure its international borders, and carry out disarmament in all counties prone to the menace concurrently.

Police stations

He said that piecemeal disarmament exercises as has happened in the past were unlikely to help contain the problem.

“We have to also ensure there is a government presence in these areas by increasing the number of police stations, army camps and even upgrading Kenya police reservists to take care of villages,” noted Lonyangapuo.

Several disarmament exercises in cattle rustling prone areas in the past have failed to end the proliferation of small arms.

At the height of Samburu killings, former Labour Minister (now Turkana Senator) John Munyes, had recommended a joint disarmament programme with the neighbouring Uganda, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Biased process

Munyes claimed the disarmament that was going on then in Turkana  was selective and targeted one community yet the problem affects all the pastoralist communities in the three neighbouring countries including the Toposa, Dinka, Merile, Turkana, Pokot and Samburu.

With the coming into force of county governments, it is hoped that government presence will be felt in these rustling prone counties and thus reduce its occurrence.

Development in these regions will also keep members of these communities actively employed and thus minimise chances of them getting involved in the vice.

Lonyangapuo notes that the Ugandan government has police stations at an interval of five kilometres and army camps at an interval of 10 kilometres in the Karamoja, Amdat and Karita regions which borders Kenya, and that is partly why rustling across the border has been contained.

Government’s neglect

“There are boarding schools, farming activities and all sorts of development on the Ugandan side, with a ministry for Karamoja region headed by the Ugandan first lady Janet Museveni. Across the Kenyan side is poverty, illiteracy, poor roads and insecurity because of government’s neglect,” explains Lonyangapuo.

He said the government needs to improve roads in West-Pokot and suggested that the Kapenguria-Kacheliba-Konyao-Alale road, Chepareria-Sook-Turkwel road, Chepkorniswo-Sina-Tabach road and the Marich-Pass-Sigor-Lomut-Chesegon road are tarmacked.

Unsafe border

“The Turkwel-Ompolio-Nakwamoru-Abuke-Loya-Nauyapong road along the West-Pokot-Turkana County border should also be improved to make it easy for security personnel to patrol,” added Lonyangapuo.

He said the level of education in cattle rustling prone areas should be improved, hospitals developed and electricity and water provided to turn around fortunes of the local communities.

“With high literacy, health people courtesy of good hospitals and clean water as well as electricity to help explore local resources, the problem of cattle rustling can be contained,” explained Lonyangapuo.