• They spoke in Kisumu on Friday following the killing of a camel herder along the boarder of Kitui and Tana River counties on Thursday evening.
• The 37-year-old Hussein Abdullahi was reportedly attacked and killed while grazing the camels in his boss’s farm.
Image: MUSEMBI NZENGU
Two MPs from the pastoralist region now want the government to engage all leaders to end the senseless killings and restore peace among the residents of Kitui and Tana River counties.
Bura MP Yakub Adow and his Mandera West counterpart Adan Haji have decried the killings even as they blamed the state for partisan approach in addressing the conflict.
"If we are in government, then there is need to listen to both sides. There is need for consultation. There is no need to give orders without listening to both sides," Haji said.
They spoke in Kisumu on Friday following the killing of a camel herder along the boarder of Kitui and Tana River counties on Thursday evening.
The 37-year-old Hussein Abdullahi was reportedly attacked and killed while grazing the camels in his boss’s farm.
“The owner of the camel is an old man who has leased the farm from the Kamba community residing in a place called Sosoma,” Adow said.
“He has leased the land for 15 years and he has lived in that place for those 15 years. Yesterday, the herder of those camels was attacked. His hands and head were chopped off,” he added.
Kitui and Tana River have been fighting over boundary. The conflict has been worsened by the drought that have seen the herders cross over to Kitui is search of water and pasture.
“It is not only Tana River and Kitui that have boundary conflicts. There are many other counties. But this one has shocked us,” Adow said.
The legislators faulted the Interior CS Kithure Kindiki who recently visited Kitui and ordered immediate removal of camels from the farms without listening to the leaders and residents of Tana River.
Farmers in Kitui have complained that their farmers have been invaded by camel herders from the neighboring counties of Tana River and Garissa who are looking for pastures for their animals.
Prolonged drought has affected the herders, forcing them to crossover to the neighboring counties and triggering deadly conflicts.
“As a members of pastoralist parliamentary group, we have discussed this issue and concluded that the Constitution of Kenya allows every Kenyan to go to every part of this country to do business and without any interference,” Haji said.
Haji, who chairs the National Assembly’s National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity committee, said they are ready to meet the CS and leaders from Kitui to seek a lasting solution and peace between the residents of the two counties.