STRAY CATTLE HELD HOSTAGE AT RIMOI CONSERVANCY RELEASED AFTER MCA INTERVENTION By Joshua Chesire A total of 60 heads of cattle were held hostage today at Kabulwo in Keiyo North for over fifteen hours after a two -month notice issued by Elgeyo Marakwet county government lapsed yesterday. The stray animals belonging to three households from Barwesa ward in Baringo North sub county were released on Wednesday after frantic intervention by Barwesa ward Member of county Assembly Joseph Makilap who pleaded with the authorities from the county to pardon the owners who were already feeling resigned. Musa Chepkok, Samuel kiptoon and Isaac Chelugo whose 31 ,24 and 10 cows respectively were arrested echoed the MCAs move to release the animals long later after their own efforts bored no fruits. My cows were starved for long without pasture and water after they were taken hostage since yesterday at 5 pm until they were released today at 11 am, said Mr. Chepkok. Makilap pleaded with the Elgeyo Marakwet government to offer the herders an extra duration of two months until the rains subside in order for the owners to take back the animals ,saying that the intensified droughts were still evident back in their Chepukar home. He promised to convene a baraza together with the herders in his ward to discuss way forward in giving a lasting solution to the ensuing grazing land dispute between Rimoi conservancy and the herders from Baringo north. We believe a solution will be reached where the herders shall be awarded permits to graze their livestock at Rimoi game reserve throughout the drought periods with a fee payable to the government of Elgeyo Marakwet,said Makilap. The county of Elgeyo Marakwet early this year endorsed a bill curbing herders from grazing their animals inside Rimoi conservancy in bid to protect the reserve from being encroached by livestock and human activities. The county government is yet to amend a policy to tax the owners of every livestock found pasturing inside the protected area. Earlier, the Elgeyo Marakwet county governor Alex Tolgos had threatened that his government shall arrest and sell off stray livestock at Rimoi to the Kenya Meat Commission as way to earn a revenue to the county.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 18:55:37 +0000
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