Herders want compensation after police killed 300 cows

Community leaders from the Maasai and Samburu communities are calling upon the government to compensate individuals who lost their livestock following the shooting dead of more than 300 cows during an operation by police in Laikipia County last week.

Led by lawyers Lukas Laikuni and Austin Segeyan, the leaders are also demanding a stop to the ongoing security operation in Laikipia, insisting that it is targeting herders and that the government should devise a better mechanism to combat banditry menace.

Laikuni and Segeyan are now accusing the state of discriminating and economically sabotaging the Maa community by shooting dead their livestock, the most valued possession in their community.

“We want the police officers who shoot our animals to be arrested and prosecuted. We also want the government to do a thorough land review to know exactly the communal land that has been taken by so called private buyers,” said Laikuni.

They also want the government to come up with “a people-driven policy” in the pastoral counties to deal with the conflict between locals and private ranchers, lamenting of the many who have been killed by police following orders from wealthy ranch owners.

On Monday, Kajiado Central MP Elijah Memusi called for the resignation of Interior CS Fred Matiang’i and Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett over the shooting incident. The lawmaker lamented that “it has become a tradition for the government to use police to sabotage the economy of pastoral communities.”