Kindiki witnesses handover of stolen cattle in Laikipia

By Peter Ochieng

Cabinet Secretary (CS) for interior and national administration Abraham Kithure Kindiki on Friday witnessed the return and handover of cattle which had been stolen in Laikipia county.

Laikipia is one of the counties in the country where cattle rustling is rampant, besides others such as Baringo, Turkana and West Pokot.

Speaking at Posta during the handover ceremony, the CS said cattle rustling in Northern Kenya has over the years been an organised criminal enterprise responsible for deaths, destitution and displacement.

"Its impacts are severe. It deprives pastoral communities their economic mainstay and aggravates the conditions of poverty in the rangelands, fuelling communal grievances and revenge attacks," he said.

Kindiki said that government officers will not rest, until 'anything and everything' linked to the vice has been dismantled.

"To dismantle the infrastructure of cattle rustlers and facilitators, the government is sustaining the war on banditry and its perpetrators, enablers, benefactors and beneficiaries by making banditry a painful venture, ensuring recovery of stolen livestock and rewarding facilitators of recoveries."

In addition, the CS said  the Kenya Kwanza administration will henceforth reward gallant police officers who aid in recovery of stolen livestock, in a bid to encourage them to pursue and bring perpetrators to book.

"Going forward, the government through the Interior Ministry will run a program to financially reward gallant officers and members of the public whose efforts will result in the arrest of the key planners, executors and enablers of banditry whose profiles will be published countrywide in the new year," said the former Tharaka Nithi Senator.

Speaking in Samburu county on Thursday, Kindiki revealed that the ongoing Maliza Uhalifu Operation which commenced on 14th February 2023, is being extended into parts of Meru, Isiolo and Marsabit counties.

"Into 2024, government remains glued to the vision of defeating banditry, destroying its evil infrastructure and building resilience of affected communities and mainstreaming them into national development," he noted.

The CS has severally been ranked the best performing in president William Ruto's Kenya Kwanza cabinet.