The Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i now claims that bad politics must be curbed in Laikipia if peace is to be achieved.
“Evidence gathered by security and intelligence agents points to a more insidious agenda. The clashes, historically and as is manifesting now, tend to flare up in the build-up to general elections, around key electoral processes such as voter registration or during high stakes political discourses that invite residents’ decision-making,” he said.
While attending a peace meeting in the volatile region, CS Matiang’i said the government is dedicated to addressing issues between pastoralists and private ranchers.
“Periodic clashes between pastoralists and private ranchers have left a trail of death and destruction in Laikipia and in other parts of the country… That the pattern of the internecine invasions and the causative factors is predictable”
The sheer size of some of the herds, as well as the difficulty of coordinating their movement, suggests that not all of the animals belong to innocent herders in search of grass, according to CS Matiangi.
The CS urged herders to consider other options, like as selling their livestock to the newly restructured Kenya Meat Commission (KMC)
