•In April, Ugandan court sentenced some 32 Kenyans to 20 years each for illegally possessing guns.
•The Turkana herders were convicted after pleading guilty.
Image: YOWERI MUSEVENI/TWITTER
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has threatened to expel Kenyans from his country over cattle rustling.
In an executive order dated May 19, 2023, Museveni said Kenyans living in Turkana will be expelled for smuggling illegal guns
“I give the Turkana population six months to implement my directives. If, however, the issue of the guns illegally entering Uganda, the hand-over of the criminals who killed our Geologists or the use of traditional justice and return of the stolen cattle are not resolved, I will have no alternative but to expel all the Turkana's," he said.
"... They will never be allowed to re-enter Uganda with their cattle."
Speaking to the Star, Kenya High Commissioner in Uganda George Owino said there was a positive meeting held on May 23 between Turkana leaders and Uganda side which also involved UPDF.
“They said they will continue to allow the Turkana people to graze and water their animals and will give them security so they should not cross over with their guns,” he said.
But in the order, Museveni said through the coordination of the two governments, the Turkana must bring back the cattle they allegedly stole.
“Here caution should be exercised because our own people could be exaggerating the numbers. In order to ease the task of cattle identification, the two governments should coordinate on cattle branding to show the district and sub-county of the cattle populations,” he added.
In April, a Ugandan court sentenced some 32 Kenyans to 20 years each for illegally possessing guns. The Turkana herders were convicted after pleading guilty.
Museveni said that he had ordered the herders to graze cattle but never to smuggle guns but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
He said all the guns that have been smuggled guns must be handed over. This, he said, should be done by Kenya and Uganda.
Museveni claimed the herders raided Karimonjong and killed people.
"They are said to have raided 2,245 cattle from the Jie. They killed our three Geologists, 1 (one) Officer and a soldier, that were guarding them," he said.
Museveni said the killers of the geologists must be brought to book.
“I now direct that this Turkana nonsense must stop. They must never come to Uganda with guns and anybody who does so, must be arrested and charged with terrorism by a Court Martial,” he said.
"The killers of the geologists must be handed to us for trial for murder. The guns were handed back to the Government of Uganda, but not the killers."
The Ugandan president said the suspected killers must perform a blood settlement known as kukaraba to the families of the deceased.
He noted that the price of the kukaraba cannot be the traditional one, of a few cows.
“It must be adjusted to the full value of what the deceased would have contributed in his/her life,” he said.