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{
    "id": 1354791,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1354791/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 145,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Oburu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 194,
        "legal_name": "Oburu Ngona Odinga",
        "slug": "oburu-odinga"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I rise to support this Bill by Sen. Cherarkey. It is a good Bill because it is addressing an issue of rustling. This rustling is not only cattle rustling, it is livestock rustling and it does not only occur in those areas where they keep large stocks of animals. It also occurs in areas where there are people with mixed farming; people who do fishing or farming and also keep animals, not in such large numbers but they keep it in sufficient numbers to sustain and support their economic activities. Madam Temporary Speaker, these are subsistence farmers who have mixed farming. These things happen on a daily basis, but they are not reported nationally because it is thought that the impact on the economy of those families is not that big. I can tell you it is very devastating when you lose your animals. I lost some animals like maybe 1,000 chickens. I could not feel it that much, but if that happened to a neighbour whom that is his or her lifetime savings, it can be very devastating. How do you put these marks which Sen. Cherarkey is speaking about on chicken? It would be good if there was a classification, particularly when it comes to punishment on who should be punished and how much. If you look at those people who are coming with guns in the north eastern Isiolo, Turkana, Pokot, Baringo and Marsabit and so on, then compare them with people who are using Probox cars in my area, where if you just happened to graze your goats and the land for grazing is becoming limited by the day because the population is getting greater but the land size that does not increase, people come with a Probox and they put the goats inside. A Probox can carry even 20 goats and they go with them. You cannot mete out similar punishment to somebody who has stolen two, three or 10 goats and somebody who has stolen 50, 100 or 1000 goats using a gun and even killing the herders with guns. This should be differentiated. There is animal theft and animal robbery. There is robbery with violence and there is theft of animals. The theft should be differentiated from the robbery. I know between my community and the community of Sen. Cherarkey, there is a theft of those animals almost on a daily basis, but they do not use guns. They use arrows to come and steal our cattle and go with them to the hill. Sometimes elders sit down, they talk and some are returned. I do not know whether Sen. Cherarkey would like his people who come with those arrows to be jailed for 20 years, if that is okay. Theft should be differentiated from robbery; those who kill taking thousands and thousands of animals from people. I think Sen. Cherarkey knows what I am talking about and he will consider some of these amendments which have been suggested by my colleagues before me. All in all, I would like to support this Bill because it is dealing with an issue which is affecting very large parts of our country where theft or robbery of animals has become a business. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is no longer conflict between communities fighting for resources, water and grazing land, but it has become a very big business. I know that there are some people in this country who have connections with Middle East countries. They take these animals to slaughterhouses where they slaughter and export the meat. That is why very large stocks of animals disappear."
}