About 4,000 head of cattle from Tanzania seized in Kenya
What you need to know:
This comes just two weeks after the government auctioned 1,305 head of cattle seized in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro Region, for allegedly illegally crossing the Tanzania-Kenya border.
Dar es Salaam. At least 4,000 head of cattle from Tanzania have been seized in a Kenyan Maasai community in Kajiado County.
This comes just two weeks after the government auctioned 1,305 head of cattle seized in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro Region, for allegedly illegally crossing the Tanzania-Kenya border.
According to a BBC Dira ya Dunia news programme on Wednesday, November 1, 2017, commissioner of Kajiado County in southern Kenya Harsama Kello said he was trying to stop the Maasai community in Kenya from confiscating cattle from Tanzania as an act of revenge.
However, minister of Livestock and Fisheries Luhaga Mpina said the government wasn’t aware of the incident, but said pastoralists should follow legal procedures, when crossing the border with their cattle.
“I’m not aware of the story you are talking about, but the government will stick on legal requirements set by in Kenya and Tanzania,” Mr Mpina told The Citizen yesterday in a telephone interview.
“Even if it’s true that the cattle are being confiscated, we see what the Kenyan law says and a way forward,” he added
Speaking to BBC, Mr Kello said pastoralists planned to seize whatever head of cattle that would cross from Tanzania to Kenya, “but I’m trying hard to ensure they don’t do that”.
Kajiado residents are nomadic pastoralists although some of them practise subsistence agriculture.
“There is no way that we can allow this to continue. It’s too bad for diplomacy and relationship of the two countries as we are neighbours and share common interests,” he noted.
Maasai herdsmen from Kenya have been crossing the border into the country to graze their cattle whenever there is a shortage of pasture in their areas.
However, the government says large herbivores are threatened by destructive human activities like encroachment on grazing, soil erosion and conflict between farmers and pastoralists.
Cattle from Kenya, which were auctioned in Mwanga District two weeks ago were said to have stayed in the country for about a month after they were seized.
During an auctioning, the Kilimanjaro region commissioner Anna Mghwira said the government’s decision was taken to make foreign pastoralists respect and abide by Tanzanian laws.
