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"speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Lesuuda",
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"content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to contribute to this very important Motion and thank my colleague, Hon. Peris, for tabling it in this House. Some things leave us without knowing what to say, where to start and where to end. This is not the first time such a thing is happening in this country. Many other similar incidences have happened, like the one just before the elections. Kenyans were so engrossed in the campaign for the repeat presidential election that they did not realise that it happened. That is why this case is really shocking. Some of us almost do not know what to do or what to say because before the election, as Hon. Lentoimaga said, over 700 cattle were shot dead in the same manner. Now, over 300 cattle have been shot dead. I am sure this matter has the attention of Kenyans. The question that begs is what the cows have done. Even if we say that we have issues of invaders, profiling entire communities and calling them illegal herders and bandits is unacceptable. In this country, when a suspect from a certain community is shot dead, we never profile the entire community and call it a community of thieves or criminals. However, when it comes to pastoral communities, they are branded certain names. That should not be happening. Secondly, I want to say that no pastoralist will take cover behind a cow. Cows are sacred and very special to pastoralists. A pastoralist cannot take cover behind a cow so that a bullet hits the cow before it hits him. We have never heard of it. Since Independence, we have never seen the things that are currently happening. What we have read is that cows used to be rounded up and taken to a police station or to some designated areas. Subsequently, as the owners looked for their cows, the authorities would take appropriate punitive measures against the pastoralists. The authorities would arrest the pastoralists, arraign them in court and have them fined. The Government would confiscate guns from the pastoralists or take whatever necessary action. We have never seen such thing as cows being shot dead in the Republic of Kenya. There is something wrong with the Office of the Inspector-General of Police. It is like there is a standard statement template that only awaits change of date. The template justification statement is waiting for other cows to be shot dead, so that the date can be changed for that specific incident. What does the statement say? It says that there was an exchange of fire and the herders took cover among the cows. This begs the question: What are the people on the ground doing that Nairobi does not know? We have desk officers in Nairobi who just wait for such incident to happen in order for them to issue that standard statement. We are following this matter with the IPOA. We are not going to let those who have done this to the affected families go scot-free. We can discuss issues of drought and invasion. There is a matter that is not being raised. Now there is profiling. A young child was found by a policeman and was asked: “You Samburu, what are you doing here?” Then the nine-year old boy was shot on the head. Even as we put emphasis on the cows, what has that child done? That is just a child who was walking home from school. That also happened in the constituency of my colleague, Hon. Mariru. Hon. Mariru, please, speak on behalf of the children and the pastoralists who are in your constituency. I support the Motion and the suggestion to form a parliamentary committee to look at the bigger picture of what is going on in Laikipia, so that a report can be brought to this House for debate. Thank you."
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