Community threatens mass demos over killing of cattle

Maasai leaders have threatened mass protests and to move to court to seek justice in the killing of tens of livestock in a confrontation between herders and security officers last week.

The leaders have reacted angrily to the killings of cattle in Ol Moran area in Laikipia North last Wednesday, with Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina demanding compensation for the victims.

He spoke as the government defended security officers in the operation and as a section of Laikipia leaders supported it saying it must continue and all illegal herders evicted from private land.

GRAZERS

Led by Governor Ndiritu Muriithi and Laikipia West MP Patrick Mariru, Laikipia leaders called on the government to intensify the security operation until all illegal were evicted from the county.

“No amount of intimidation would stop my government and the national government from going on with the operation,” Governor Muriithi declared.

While herders claim over 300 heads of cattle were shot dead, security chiefs have dismissed the claims saying only 75 of them were shot dead during a fire exchange between the two sides.

“Only 75 cattle died during the incident. I don’t know where this number is coming from,” said Laikipia county commissioner Onesmus Musyoki said.

The county police commander Mr Simon Kipkeu echoed his sentiments saying the animals were killed during crossfire between the armed herders and security officers.

“The herders had attempted to lay an ambush on to the security officers forcing the officers to return fire. They hid under the cattle and that was how the animals were shot and killed,” said Mr Kipkeu.

He said despite the rains and improved pasture in their homes, herders have refused to leave the ranches in Laikipia.

UPROAR

“The herders have been playing games with police when security officers drive them from one ranch they move into another,” he said, noting that more officers have been deployed in the area.

The killing sparked protests and uproar from leaders and members of pastoralist communities  who accused security officers of using excessive force to drive out herders out of private land.

Maasai leaders have demanded arrest and prosecution of officers who took part in the operation. 

Mr Ledama who visited Ratia village in Laikipia North where the killings happened said the killings appear to have been planned.

The National Maasai Council of Elders has also condemned the shooting and killing of the animals and demanded that the police officers who were involved be prosecuted.

The council dismissed claims that the herders ambushed the officers.

Led by the council secretary general Joseph ole Karia and former county council chairman Kelena ole Nchoe, the elders claimed the shooting was part of a government scheme to intimidate the Maasai community in efforts to grab the Laikipia land after the expiry of the 99 year leases.

The elders demanded that all the community ancestral land wrongly allocated to individuals under the colonial government be returned.

ICC

The council, addressing a press conference in Narok town, threatened to move to the International Court of Justice to sue the government.

Mr Karia who is the former president for indigenous communities in Africa claims Laikipia ranches are part of the land 1.5 million acres of land the community lost over the years.

Among the land they want returned are the 30,000-acre pieces in Mau Narok, big chunks of lands in Naivasha among them Kedong ranch, Lord Dalamere and others in Laikipia under Britons and former president Daniel Moi.

The elders, said reparation, restitution, and compensation should start with a review of the Maasai Land Agreements of 1904 and 1911, whose 100-year leases expired in 2004 and 2011.

“The government is using an orthodox ways to make sure the Laikipia land will not be returned to the community, that is why they are killing the community economic lifeline to distabalise them,” said Mr Karia.           

Mr Nchoe on his part said some of the Laikipia land was still in the hands of foreign companies, multinationals and remnants of colonial settlers who are engaged in economic activities on the land using all means to make sure they stay.

"We as the leaders from the Maa community, we demand that the government through the relevant security agencies starts investigations into the shooting of cows in Laikipia in order to bring the culprits to book," said Mr Nchoe.

He said the colonialists and post-independence administrations took advantage of Maasais’ nomadic lifestyle to alienate their land, and its time it’s returned or they would move to court.

 “We have continued to be viewed as aggressors in our own land, they want to take over Laikipia, they want to take over Mau forest, they want to take over Maasai Mara, we will resist it with our bodies and the rule of law,” said Mr Nchoe.

They called on elected leaders in Narok, Samburu, Kajiado, Laikipia and Baringo to move to the International Court of Justice and demand for compensation for the injustices against the Maasai community.

The community has for long tried to have land it owned before the entry of the British returned in vain.

Governor Muriithi and Mr Mariru, however, accused a section of politicians from Samburu County of instigating violence in the region.

Governor Muriithi said leaders who own the animals have been sponsoring the herders to invade private lands in Laikipia to graze their livestock. We will not allow our land to continue being turned into a battlefield by illegal grazers,” said the governor.

He said that there was enough rain in their home counties and therefore the herders must return to their homes.

Mr Mariru castigated leaders from the Maa speaking communities for allegedly defending the illegal herders.

“No one should be defended for invading into private property. Private property must be respected,” he noted.

Reporting by Steve Njuguna, George Sayagie and Gordon Oundoh