Laikipia leaders vow to evict illegal herders

Laikipia County leaders have vowed to have all illegal herders flushed out of the county with immediate effect for the sake of peace and security of area residents.

The leaders both elected and aspiring met alongside Laikipia County security heads at Nanyuki and in the leadership of Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri and NCIC Chair Francis Ole Kaparo.

The said illegal herders from the neighboring Samburu County have allegedly invaded parts of Laikipia North by encroaching private farms and ranches where they are grazing their herds.

The leaders said that the presence of these herders with over 50,000 heads of cattle is a recipe for violence in the area and they must be sent back to their county.

CS Kiunjuri claimed that the herders were working with Samburu County leaders who he said own the herds being grazed in Laikipia County illegally.

Laikipia East MP Antony Mutahi said that they have only seen security officers in action pushing herders from the said ranches and farms and later leaving them to continue grazing on the roadsides.

In a common resolve, the leaders urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to consider his move of appointing Principal Secretary Lesiyempe as the mediator in this issue, saying that an issue touching on law and order cannot be resolved through a mediation process.

This comes even as more than ten counties, including Samburu County, are faced with biting drought that has seen pastoralists move with their herds in search of pasture.