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{
    "id": 708187,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/708187/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 323,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Ghati",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 856,
        "legal_name": "Dennitah Ghati",
        "slug": "dennitah-ghati"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for giving me the opportunity to talk about cattle rustling. I support the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill and thank the Joint Committee on National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity. The attempt to comprehensively deal with the issue of cattle rustling is long overdue. Cattle rustling should be considered a national disaster. When we talk about cattle rustling, some people think that it only happens in Marsabit and in the North Rift. They do not understand that any community that has cattle, goats, sheep and chicken also faces this problem. The Kuria Community – to which I belong – has for a long time been engaged in cattle rustling with their Maasai neighbours. You can ask the Member for Emurua Dikirr. Every now and then, elders from my community sit down with elders from the Maasai community to broker peace deals and negotiate on how to take care of the people and the livestock of the two communities, and how to coexist. Young people and women in Kurialand cannot sleep in their homes as we speak. Right now they are carrying their luggage. Young people armed with machetes, rungus and illegal firearms are responsible for providing security. You see young people walking around the borders of Masangura and Gwitembe. People in Makararagwe, Ikwabhe-re-kuria and Kugitimo in Kuria East have not known peace. Members of the Kuria Community living along the Kuria/Maasai border do not sleep. That is why our young people are always at loggerheads with members of the Maasai Community. We have not known peace for a long time. I now want to delve on the land issue. My people have no means of livelihood. We need to seriously look at that issue. I am very happy because of the punishment that has been introduced on cattle theft. Fifteen years imprisonment is a lenient sentence. Cattle raiders are people who destroy other people’s livelihoods. They rape women and girls, maim people, destroy whatever they come across and do all manner of bad things to their innocent victims. Fifteen years imprisonment is good for cattle rustlers. The second issue I am happy about the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill is the way it seeks to address the issue of laxity among law enforcers. Some police officers overstay in areas affected by cattle rustling until they become acclimatised to the cultures of the local communities. They become so comfortable until they get used to those cultures. These are the same police officers who are used to hide cattle rustlers. They know the perpetrators of the vice. 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."
}