Wednesday 16 June 2010

Cattle rustling: A curse among the nomads

Cattle rustling are a curse that has dominance and practiced among the Nomadic tribes of East & Central Africa for ages now. The problem was exacerbated by the unstable neighboring countries constantly at war with each other or internal conflicts, thus leading to infiltration of illegal arms across the porous borders of the countries.

On various occasions the government of Kenya has attempted to disarm its own nomads but every time they re-arm once again. Joint disarmament of the nomads by Kenya & Uganda governments may bear fruits this time around.

Due to the disarmament recently undertaken by the Kenya government among the nomadic tribes of northern Kenya, majority of the youth who previously brandished the AK47 rifle as an ultimate guardian and sole source of earning their livelihoods, through hunting and cattle rustling among their fellow neighbors are now engaging in idol activities and frequent inter-village traditional dances and competitions.

Obviously this will distract them for a while but not long lasting and will also create a further catastrophic problem socially in the form of unprotected sex indulgence among the youth, leading to HIV & AIDS, thus threatening to wipe out the entire young generation if not checked though capacity building measures.

These young people need to be pre-occupied with income generating activities to help them permanently shift their focus and transition from the notorious cattle rustlers to good abiding citizens, channeling their bursting energies into productive activities in Nation building ventures though the Kazi Kwa Vijana-(KKV) programme in their respective locations.

Through KKV programme the young morans who have traded their guns with peace will instead engage in tree planting and other productive initiatives in their respective localities.

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