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"content": "participate in. There is no trading. Another major cause of cattle rustling in the region is the absence of the Government. Those areas are vast. I say that with experience because I am the hon. Member for Samburu West. I border Turkana which is one of the largest counties in the country. I border Baringo, Marsabit, Laikipia and Isiolo counties. I know that there are many huge areas where Government presence is absent. When I talk about Government absence, I mean infrastructure such as the Civil Service, security and other forms of infrastructure. In fact, that has been the position for very many years in areas where I come from until the NARC Government came into power. There were areas in the northern part of Samburu where we had a DC and police did not even have vehicles. The roads were almost non-existent until the year 2002. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I talk about causes because that is when we can talk about solutions. There is the question of culture. When I talk about culture I know that now we are moving from cultural aspects of cattle raiding to what I call conflict entrepreneurs or commercial people. However, aspects of culture are still there due to very strong cultural beliefs in some of the groups that have their own spiritual leaders, seers and people who dream that the son of so and so has gone to raid and they can see in that herd there are 20 white heifers. They say, “I can also see the son of so and so who is a coward and is refusing to join the group”. We also have other cultural aspects we shall talk about later. In the region, cattle rustling has now become a commercial activity for some people. In fact, we cannot even attribute it to one particular tribe. We may talk about the Turkanas, the Samburus and the Pokot. However, I am aware that there is a chain where we have urbanized communities hiring youths to collect animals. The animals are transported and sold for money although the young people are paid very little money. Evidence has been found in cattle rustling scenes where mobile phones are picked from the people killed during cattle rustling. The owner of the mobile phone has died, but the caller from the other end, who is not a Pokot or a Samburu or Turkana is still asking for the numbers. They ask, “Umepata ngapi?” That is why I am saying cattle rustling in modern times has now become a business. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the other cause of cattle rustling arises out of disputes for pasture and water. The excuse of conflict is used by for pastoralists to collect the animals. The proliferation of firearms in the region also fuels cattle rustling in large numbers. I believe that the Government policy will be to recruit as many Kenya Police Reservists (KPRs) as possible in those regions. In budgetary terms, it is difficult to recruit and equip adequate policemen to patrol the borders and those areas. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we cannot leave out the question of politics; politicians fueling cattle rustling. Some None-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) also pretend to be promoting peace when we know they do not want peace to prevail. They want a situation where they continue profiting by fueling conflict every time things cool down, so that they make money from the donors. There is also the problem of dowry in certain communities. Some of the dowry requirements are simply too high. I know of one of my constituents who crossed the border to Uganda and married a beautiful girl from Karamajong. He had to pay 175 heads"
}