Rustler waits for hours to give up gun

A cattle rustler who travelled more than 200 kilometres to surrender an illegal firearm had to endure a long wait after he found the district commissioner’s office deserted.

The 36-year-old thief travelled from Adurkoit village near the Kenya-Uganda border to the Kapenguria District headquarters to hand his AK-47 rifle to DC Alan Machari.

The man, who was escorted by Adurkoit sub-location assistant chief David Yarangiro and Warriors Rehabilitation Programme coordinator Robert Matanda, waited for more than seven hours.

The DC and the other district administration officials were all said to be out on duty. Mr Machari said he was at a district security meeting and had not been informed about the cattle rustler’s intention.

“The report I got was that the rustler had handed the gun to the area assistant chief. If I had known that he was coming, I would definitely have been there.

“However, it is not a requirement that anyone willing to surrender a gun should bring it to me,” he said.

Mr Machari said the government appreciated the gesture and called on others to surrender their firearms, blamed for cross-border insecurity among pastoralists in Kenya and Uganda.

Were killed

The rifle was eventually handed over to district peace committee officials. The livestock thief said he used 12 cows to buy the rifle from smugglers at the porous Kenya-Uganda border.

He resolved to surrender it after he learnt that the government had declared an amnesty for residents to surrender illegal guns. The amnesty ended on January 28.

“I have been stealing cattle in Kenya and Uganda since I was 16 and many of my colleagues have been killed by security forces,” he said.
The officials later hired a vehicle to take him home.