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{
"id": 1401876,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1401876/?format=api",
"text_counter": 649,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Laikipia North, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Sarah Korere",
"speaker": {
"id": 13134,
"legal_name": "Sara Paulata Korere",
"slug": "sara-paulata-korere"
},
"content": "It is very difficult for Members of Parliament to go on with their daily duties while the people we represent are actually being terrorized in their own homes. They cannot go about their own personal businesses because of the terrorists called bandits. Sometimes, I wonder what this thing called cattle rustling is. Whatever it is, it is robbery with violence. And if it is robbery with violence, the robbers must be met with equal violence from the State. As I stand on the Floor of this House today, the residents of Laikipia North, from December last year to date, have been visited with terror by a group that has reigned a lot of terror on the constituents, and nobody is safe. Even our security agents on the ground are not safe. On 6th February 2024, Mediaku Meshami was attacked in his home at Ilpolei. They drove away 80 goats, and he was left nursing a gunshot wound on his leg. On 2nd March 2024, Abraham Lepiyet, a Grade Six pupil, was attacked by bandits, and 78 goats from his family were driven away, and the boy was left with severe gunshot wounds. On 15th March 2024, Lolmarik Farm was attacked and 200 cows were driven away, and nothing has been recovered to date. On 29th December 2022, Mr. Gitumbe's 61 cows were driven away and to date, nothing has been recovered. I can go on and on but, on 31st March 2024, residents of Sanga were attacked, and the home of Chief Kisio was attacked. Four hundred cows were driven away, and a 12-year-old boy, James Lesawa, was left to fight for his life. As I speak, that boy is still in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) fighting for his life. On 8th April 2024, again, they attacked a homestead in Graton and shot one Brian Kinyua, a 17-year-old boy, who is still nursing gunshot wounds at the Cottage Hospital. What am I saying, Hon. Temporary Speaker? All our cattle, goats, sheep and camel, which are being driven away by those ruthless militia, are driven into Mukogodo Forest. Mukogodo Forest is one of the most indigenous and well-preserved forests in this country, and it is courtesy of the Yiaku people and the Rungwesi people who have used traditional knowledge to preserve that forest. But as we speak today, that forest is a no-go zone for those people. That forest has got new dwellers, very recent dwellers, heavily armed bandits who have moved into that forest with their families and kicked everybody else out, and they come to steal from the residents and drive all the livestock to that forest. The question that I would like the Government to answer is this: Is Mukogodo Forest not in Kenya? What does the Kenyan Government lack to do a thorough operation in Mukogodo Forest? Those bandits are so ruthless. When they attack homesteads, which they know nobody is armed, you wonder why they just cannot drive the livestock away and leave children to go about their daily lives without maiming them, killing them, and leaving a lot of pain behind. Hon. Temporary Speaker, we have just come out of a very bad drought that has not been witnessed in the last 40 years or so. And 90 per cent of our livestock was swept away. For those people who still have livestock today, they made a lot of sacrifices to have those livestock. Some of them drove their livestock to Mt. Kenya Forest. They braced the cold and the diseases of Mt. Kenya Forest. Some of them bought hay for their animals while some hired grass from their neighbouring ranches just to make sure they save the few livestock which is their main source of income. We sell the livestock to educate our children and get food. That livestock is our life. And as we speak, what was left of the drought is being taken forcefully from us in broad daylight. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"
}