Over 500 families have been displaced along the border.
Tolgos called for investigation of mpesa transactions among the cattle rustlers.
Booming livestock trade in the Kerio Valley has driven cattle rustling out of control, Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos has said.
Tolgos said cattle rustling was often taken as a cultural practice but has turned out to be an illegal business in which bandits are looking for cattle to sell.
“Cattle rustling has always been an activity to replenish stock from either side but it isn’t just that anymore. The bandits are now driven by the desire to steal and sell. There is the commercialisation of cattle rustling where wealthy businessmen finance raids among the pastoral communities,” Tolgos said.
His statement came following a week of retaliatory attacks that have caused serious insecurity concerns. Eight people, including a GSU officer have been killed in the last two weeks.
Tolgos said cattle rustling was a traditional practice among the Pokot and Marakwet communities but has been commercialised.
He spoke in Kitale, Trans Nzoia county at security meeting that brought together leaders from Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot counties.
Tolgos said investigations have discovered the raids were well-coordinated with bandits and businessmen from both communities involved.
He said there M-Pesa messages showing the bandits sell the cows and get cash through their phones. He asked police to do a thorough investigation t end cattle rustling.
“The raiders strike at night and drive away herds of cattle into Embobut Forest which has been turned into a hideout for bandits. They should be flushed out," Tolgos said.
He said more than 500 families have been displaced from Kapyego and Tapach villages along the border due to insecurity.
The governors asked the government to involve residents and local leaders in the ongoing disarmament of national police reservists in pastoralist areas.
West Pokot Governor John Lonyangapuo condemned the attacks, saying cattle rustling has hampered economic growth.
He urged the national government to build an Anti-Stock Theft Unit and a GSU camp along the border to end attacks. more than 2,000 are out of school after their parents fled. at least 20 schools have been deserted.
“The region is very reproductive but due to the new wave of attacks people have left their produce rotting in the farms. Those affected need shelter, clothing and medicine,” Lonyangapuo said.
The leaders faulted security officers, saying they had failed to arrest the criminals and mop up illegal guns in the hands of bandits.
The meeting was attended by MCAs from the two counties as leaders sought to find a lasting solution to constant bandit attacks along the border.
In a press statement released by the Interior ministry on Thursday, the government said it had dispatched a high-level security team to the North Rift to end escalating insecurity.
“The secretary of internal security, GSU commandant and the RDU commandant has been dispatched to the area as a precursor of stiff measures to curb escalation of the sad state of affairs in the region. They will reinforce operational response and lead firm action against criminals,” the statement reads.
edited by peter. Obuya