Ranch owners, relatives fall victim to invasions by herders
Director of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro and other security officers from Laikipia County on March 6, 2017 inspect the site in Sosian ranch where cottages were allegedly burnt by herders. The co-owner of the ranch was killed. PHOTO | STEVE NJUGUNA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The epicentre of the invasions has been in Laikipia North but the impact has also spilled over to Laikipia East and Laikipia West.
- The pastoralists are said to be heading towards Mt Kenya and Aberdare Ranges after security agencies started effecting eviction orders.
Prominent personalities who own ranches, conservancies and other vast properties in Laikipia County are among those who have borne the brunt of the vicious invasions by illegal herders, the Nation has learnt.
Some powerful people in the current and past governments own ranches and huge tracts of land in the area, which the grazers claiming to be searching of water and pasture have invaded.
The farms range from ‘small’ parcels measuring 5,000 acres to seemingly endless massive lands stretching over 100,000 acres.
Some of them have been converted to wildlife sanctuaries, making Laikipia Kenya’s richest biodiversity of large mammals.
However, majority of the conservancies are owned by white Kenyans of British extraction.
Invasions by thousands of nomadic herders from neighbouring Samburu, Baringo, Isiolo, Turkana and West Pokot counties, armed with automatic rifles and driving over 50,000 cattle, goats and sheep, over the past few months have left behind a trail of destruction and chaos in Laikipia.
Emboldened by the narrative of historical land injustices, they have indiscriminately killed wildlife including elephants, buffalos, giraffes, zebras and lions as well as domestic dogs and attacked tens of residents, some fatally.
The grazers also drive their animals into small-scale farms.
The most recent incident involved Sosian Ranch co-owner Tristan Voorspuy who was shot dead when he went to visit the site where some properties were burnt.
Another similar case is that of retired President Mwai Kibaki, whose nephew was last July 14 shot and injured at their 20,000-acre Lombara Ranch, located in the outskirts of Rumuruti Town and stretching into Nanyuki Town in Laikipia East Sub-County.
Mr John Wachira Mwai, who was driving to Rumuruti Town, is wheelchair-bound with serious injuries on the right shoulder and left thigh. Investigations show he was shot at twice at close range.
The family has since abandoned the expansive farm.
EVICTION ORDER
Mr Mwai is the first cousin of former Laikipia West Member of Parliament Nderitu Muriithi.
National Cohesion and Integration Commission boss Francis ole Kaparo’s over 20,000-acre ranch, which borders the 49,000-acre Mugie Conservancy, was also invaded early last year by armed illegal grazers, who left shortly after the fence they had broken into was repaired.
The Nation established that, soon after the invasion, the former National Assembly Speaker chaired a peace meeting in Rumuruti Town in November in a bid to resolve the crisis.
Marmar Ranch, owned by the the family of former Kenya Army Commander, General James Lenges, was also invaded.
Some of the illegal grazers interviewed by the Nation claimed that the ranches and conservancies occupy their ancestral land yet owners do not want them to access the water and pasture.
“Hawa watu wanataka ng’ombe wetu wafe njaa na wao wana maji na chakula cha kutosha (These people want our cattle to die yet they have water and pasture in plenty,” explained Mr Peter Lenges, a herder.
The pastoralists are said to be heading towards Mount Kenya and Aberdare Ranges after security agencies started effecting orders by Deputy President William Ruto to have them evicted.
Others remain in the ranches and conservancies, most of them located in Laikipia North, where they have caused havoc.
The epicentre of the invasions has been in Laikipia North but the impact has also spilled over to Laikipia East and Laikipia West.
