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{
    "id": 71135,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/71135/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 345,
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    "content": "When girls are circumcised and men want to get married to them, they will do anything to get cows to pay dowry. Dowry was mentioned here by almost five hon. Members, who said that this has prompted young men to practise cattle rustling. Another practice is the traditional meetings where people gather together and sing. When women sing in the rural areas and praise some young men, the other men who have not been mentioned by the young girls, who sing in very sweet voices, will be prompted to go and steal some animals. They kill a lot of people while stealing the animals. Another thing that hon. Members spoke about is school fees, and affirmative action in schools. We did not even capture in our report, laboratories for testing animals. Another thing that we mentioned, and it was really stressed by Mr. Mututho is a chopper to be placed in strategic places in counties, or even in some regions, so that when an incident of cattle rustling happens, the culprits are followed immediately before they go far. What normally happens is that when an incident happens, it takes about one week before the Government follows the animals. By that time, you cannot even trace the footsteps of those animals. They would have disappeared. Hon. Members also talked about compensation for those who have lost their relatives. These are children who have been rendered orphans because their parents have been killed. That is a very important issue that the Government must think about. If the parents of children have been killed and their animals have been taken away, where do you expect them to get anything? You will only see those children on the streets and they will just die as beggars. These are issues that the Government must look into, because it is not the choice of those people. It is just something that has been created. It is the Government that has not taken control of the security of the people; as a result, these people become stranded and poor. There are some other things that also came up during this debate like the tradition of Laibons, who encourage the communities to believe that they would succeed when we go on raids. They tell communities about very healthy animals, and declare: “When you go out, none of you will lose your lives”. We need to give civic education to those people. That is why we are encouraging NGOs, churches and religious institutions to go to those places and give civic education. Of late, cattle rustlers have taken to attacking people on highways. Those cattle rustlers who used to steal animals have now started attacking people on highways, where they take people’s money and other property. Motorists are actually being attacked now. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is another level of cattle rustling that is more than stealing animals or forcefully taking them away. Some of the recommendations that my colleagues have given are to strengthen the work of the Committee. They are also to strengthen the Ministry for the Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands which does not have any budgetary allocation at all. The budgetary allocation given to the Ministry is just peanuts and cannot be enough to construct boreholes in those regions. The budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Livestock Development can also be used to curb cattle rustling. Mr. Njuguna talked about road networks and water dams. He is not the only one. Many other hon. Members have raised the issue. That is a solution. If the Government is very serious in alleviating the suffering of those people, these things must be done. They"
}