DECLARE CATTLE RUSTLING A NATIONAL DISASTER; CHEPTUMO TELLS GOVT By #BCNCorrespondent Baringo county leaders led by Baringo North MP William Cheptumo now want cattle rustling to be declared a national disaster in order to force the authorities to give the menace the attention it deserves. Noting that it is no longer normal stock theft phenomenon, the leaders said the loss of innocent people ‘s lives day by day has transformed this criminal activity into a different phenonmenon and faulted the national government for sleeping on the job while cattle theft snowballed into rampant insecurity. Mr Cheptumo wondered why the government was mounting huge security operations to stamp out terrorism yet rustlers have claimed more lives, stolen huge numbers of livestock and stagnated development in the affected counties than terrorists. “There is a serious problem of insecurity in Baringo County and the government should apply an equal force like what they are doing to terrorists. We suspect that the government is marginalizing our county on security matters because no substantive action has been taken to address the menace,” Cheptumo lamented. Speaking while officially opening Koroto Tugen cultural festivals in Saimo/ Soi ward Cheptumo accused the national government of failing to address notorious cattle rustling in Baringo County which has continued to claim lives, maim many among families, affect learning adversely and displace innocent Kenyans. The MP called upon the national government to put aside money to compensate and settle victims of cattle rustling, citing that during the post election violence, many people were displaced and a lot of money was allocated to settling them and the same should be done to people affected by cattle rustling. Cheptumo said that in Baringo North many people have not gone back to their homes due to rampant insecurity in the area and he is demanding a permanent solution to the menace. Concerning diatomite which has caused disputes between Pokot and Tiaty communities, Cheptumo said that the mineral is very important for the development of Baringo as a county and not to people of Baringo north only. He said that the resource should not bring rifts to Baringo North residents saying that where they have agreed as a boundary each community should reach out to their own investors and the county will earn a lot of revenue, noting that minerals extracted in any place should unite Kenyans and not cause rifts. Cheptumo revealed that they will soon be passing a law in parliament that the community should be given a good percentage of the profits that the government gets from mining in order to benefit the community as well as the country. Adapted from #KNA
Posted on: Tue, 22 Apr 2014 13:27:09 +0000
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