Four people shot dead as cattle thieves raid village
Samburu County Governor Moses Lenolkulal addresses a press conference at Maralal town on January 27, 2014. Governor Lenolkulal castigated a rustling incident that occurred on October 29, 2014 leaving four people dead at a village in Samburu North. FILE PHOTO | JOSEPH KANYI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The dead were two home guards and two suspected raiders while one villager sustained serious injuries and was taken to the Samburu County Hospital in critical condition.
- Mr Lelelit urged the government to provide two armed surveillance helicopters and police patrol vehicles to enable officers to effectively combat cattle rustling.
Cattle rustlers shot four people dead and stole an unknown number of animals when they struck a village in Samburu North.
The dead were two home guards and two suspected raiders while one villager sustained serious injuries and was taken to the Samburu County Hospital in critical condition.
A witness, Mr Mark Lesipiroi, on Wednesday said that about 50 heavily armed raiders attacked herders who were grazing their livestock at Samburu Mbukoi.
The home guards pursued the rustlers who abandoned 37 cattle and drove away the rest.
Samburu County Police Commander Patrick Wambani condemned the attack. The police boss said he was liaising with colleagues in Baringo to recover the cattle.
Samburu Governor Moses Lenolkulal, Samburu North MP Alois Lentoimaga, Samburu East MP Raphael Letimalo and Samburu West MP Jonathan Lelelit castigated the rustlers.
They said such attacks are unacceptable as they retard development.
ARMED SURVEILLANCE
The leaders blamed their colleagues in Baringo for failing to advise their people to stop cattle theft. They asked the government to intervene.
Mr Lelelit urged the government to provide two armed surveillance helicopters and police patrol vehicles to enable officers to effectively combat cattle rustling.
Mr Lentoimaga said it was worrying that more than 40 guns and bullets, which were previously stolen from policemen who were killed in the area, are still in the hands of civilians.
Mr Lenolkulal said his government will not tolerate cattle rustling, which has led to loss of lives, property and hampered development.
“If the Pokot do not learn to co-exist peacefully in the county, they will be forced to return to their home in Baringo,” he warned.
The attack comes three weeks after Pokot and Samburu elders signed a peace covenant at Porror Administration Police Camp in Samburu Central Sub-County in the presence of the Samburu County Security Committee.
Each of the two communities returned the livestock they had stolen from each other and they took an oath to keep peace.
Earlier this week, two people were injured and 113 cows were recovered in two separate incidents on Monday and Tuesday at Ngarema and Luruko in Samburu and Isiolo counties.
