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{
    "id": 1100274,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1100274/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 211,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Ekal",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13226,
        "legal_name": "Malachy Charles Ekal Imana",
        "slug": "malachy-charles-ekal-imana"
    },
    "content": "I strongly condemn what the military is doing in Laikipia County. They are killing our animals. Cattle are so dear to Samburus, Turkanas and Maasais. Therefore, for the military to kill 5,000 cattle is not right. It is very painful to pastoralists. The same thing happened in Uganda when Turkanas went to Uganda to look for grass and water. Their cattle were stolen by Ugandans and they had to go for them, but the Ugandan army took those cows. To date, we do not know what happened to our animals. The Uganda Government is not helping us to get our animals back. Mr. Speaker, Sir, these kinds of things should not be happening in Kenya. It is sad that our Government is killing our animals. If anything, arrest the perpetrators of skirmishes rather than killing them and their animals. Most of ranches in Laikipia are fenced. As far as we concerned, if we see grass on the other side of the fence and our cows are starving, we drive our animals there. We will break the fence and graze our cattle there irrespective of what will happen to us. This is something that other communities do not understand. The reason we have Maasai names all over the country is because they were looking for grass and water for theirs animals. Naivasha, Nakuru, and Nairobi are all Maasai names, but they did not own land there because they were looking for grass and water. In the same way, we are still looking for grass and water. When a mzungu has put up a fence and there is grass on the other side, it is very likely that I will break that fence and get my cattle to graze. It is just a simple thing like that. Mr. Speaker, Sir, to solve this problem, the fences have to be removed or the Government will have to avail water and grass for pastoralists. Otherwise, there will always be these problems. People are always going to break the fences and get their cattle in there. We need to talk to the people of Laikipia County, who have ranches, to open up the land so that our people can graze there. Perhaps, we can find a way to grow grass, so that our cattle can feed without breaking people’s fences. Otherwise, this problem will continue forever."
}