Goats-for-peace plan takes root in crime-hit districts

http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=39&newsid=95660  

More than 8,000 families hit by cattle rustling in the North Rift are to benefit from a multi-million programme aimed at replenishing their livestock. The scheme hopes to encourage communities to stop cattle-rustling, an endemic problem in the area. A similar programme is taking place among pastoral communities in Uganda that are similarly affected by cattle rustling. The first group of goats, worth about Sh4.8 million, were given out to affected families in West Pokot and the newly created Pokot North districts.

The programme is spearheaded by the Tecla Loroupe Peace Foundation in collaboration with a non-governmental organisation, Oxfam. It includes a scheme to ensure that the donated animals have a healthy life.

Livestock diseases

The two organisations have trained 50 para-veterinary technicians and provided drugs worth Sh1.7 million to help local herders fight livestock diseases. Tecla Loroupe Peace Foundation deputy co-ordinator Enock Rotich said each of the affected families will receive 20 goats. He said animal experts had been provided with bicycles and that each of the eight divisions would have five medics.
Beneficiaries were identified with the help of the local District Peace Committee (DPC) head Simon Alew. Speaking while handing over goats for Kacheliba Division, Mr Alew praised the re-stocking programme and said families whose cattle had been stolen were in similar plight. There was dance and jubilation when beneficiaries received the goats, describing them as a divine gift. "God is great! Ever since raiders took away our cattle, life has been very difficult. But there is hope now," Mrs Chepawat Losepuk, 56, whose husband was shot dead four years ago, said.

Free education

Kongalai district officer John Godokin, who handed over the goats, said the Government wanted to end cattle rustling in the region. He told residents to discard the menace, saying it was responsible for many of the problems they encountered. He urged Pokots to take advantage of the introduction of free learning to take their children to school, as it was through education that peace would be realised.

The DO praised athlete Tecla Loroupe for her efforts to bring peace to the warring communities.  The programme was launched recently at Kacheliba trading centre, 31 kilometres from Kapenguria Town in West Pokot. At the venue were mostly women, some with young children. Elders also attended the function, as did youths. The latter, many of whom are former warriors, said they had quit cattle rustling. After last year's peace races, the organisation decided to engage the warriors in gainful activities to dissuade them from cattle rustling, said Mr Rotich.

The project targets both active and former raiders. Elders who are believed to have supported raiders in the past are also in the programme. Hopefully, they will stop administering oaths to youthful raiders, and learn that it is not only through such roles that one can get rich. In Pokot culture, many youths seek elders' blessings before they attack neighbouring communities. Also to be covered by the restocking programme are women and children whose husbands and fathers have been killed in raids.

First priority

Widows who have lost their animals are given first priority. Mr Rotich said a group of 64 elders, each selected from the eight divisions of the district, including Alale, Kasei, Kacheliba, Kongelai, Chesogon, Sok and Tapach, would identify those to benefit from the programme. The group comprised women, elders, chiefs and their assistants. In West Pokot District alone, there are more than 13,000 women whose husbands have been killed during such raids. Each committee member was to identity women, youths and elders whose names were to be verified by the West Pokot district peace committee, led by the Reverend Simon Alew, as chairman.

Other committee members include Mr Joseph Akauleu and Mr Jackson Kabila. Officials from Oxfam are also group members. The local District Peace
Committee donated the bicycles. Donating animals to affected families is another way of restocking, instead of communities raiding each other. A Ugandan minister in charge of Karamojong affairs, Mr Peter Lokeris, said the exercise had helped reduce tension between the Pokots and Karamojong. Together with peace races organised by the Tecla Loroupe Foundation, the exercise has led to the surrender of 12,000 illegal guns by the Karamojong of Uganda.

In Kenya, Pokots have about 50,000 illegal guns. The majority of these are used in cattle rustling. The Karamojong occupy the northern part of Uganda. On several occasions, they have raided the neighbouring Pokots and Turkanas. Some illegal guns used in Kenya, especially by the Pokots, are acquired from the Karamoja of Uganda. Mr Lokeris asked the Government of Kenya to encourage Pokots to surrender illegal arms. He asked non-government organisations working in Kenya and Uganda to support re-stocking efforts. The Ugandan Government, he said, had acted tough on people with illegal guns. A campaign to support peace-building initiatives, such as re-stocking, was encouraged, he said.

Fewer raids

At Turkwel Gorge during a peace race recently, Mr Lokeris said the Ugandan Government was pursuing those with illegal guns, with the aim of promoting peace between the Pokot, the Turkana and the Karamojong. The Ugandan minister said village elders were instrumental in identifying people with illegal guns. Mr Lokeris said that since the exercise to restock animals and surrender guns began, raids in northern Uganda and Kenya had reduced. Besides the Sabiny, who frequently raid the Pokots, the Karamojong have the most feared warriors. They mainly target Pokots and Turkanas in Kenya. Mr Lokeris said it was by mopping up illegal arms that the East Africa Community could take root. He decried an unprecedented influx of small arms from neighbouring war-torn countries.

Assistant minister Samuel Moroto, who has been at the forefront of the Tecla Peace race organisation, said a cattle market should be established near the Turkwel Power Gorge to serve Pokots, Turkanas, Marakwet and Karamojong.

Proposed market

The market would promote peace among the warring communities by ending decades-old cattle rustling. Mr Moroto said the proposed market and the re-stocking exercise are part of a wider scheme by local leaders to end the menace. "We want our people to have a common market where they can sell their cattle and exchange ideas," he said. The MP asked NGOs operating in West Pokot District to help in build the market. They should use funds given to them by donors to put up infrastructure for the market. This will also give them a forum to discuss peace, Mr Moroto said. Turkana Central MP Ekwee Ethuro said the market would be a good forum to urge "our people to surrender illegal firearms".

Sigor MP Philip Rotino said establishment of the market at Turkwel Gorge and the re-stocking exercise were timely. The four communities have been using the Kainuk border as a battlefield, displacing many children and women. Mr Rotino asked the Government to set up a slaughterhouse at the proposed market, saying it could work well since electricity would be provided by the plant.

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