Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya has accused Nairobi City residents of contributing to Rift Valley banditry by consuming meat from stolen livestock. According to Natembeya, once the robbers take livestock, they transport them to the city where they are butchered and distributed to city dwellers. He added that when he was the Rift Valley regional commissioner, he banned cattle transit at night, but the practice persisted because the people involved paid officials stationed at checkpoints at night. Some of them are even elected authorities, he said. The governor lamented that the campaign against banditry was hampered by a lack of goodwill from authorities in the president’s office.
Speaking on Citizen TV, Natembeya explained that he had evidence that the stolen livestock was being consumed in Nairobi. He stated that if 1,000 cows were taken from Ilchamus and moved to the Laikipia Nature Conservancy, they would vanish into thin air. He further explained that the horns of the slaughtered cows could not be found in the Dagoretti slaughterhouse since people use horns to identify their animals. “You are supporting robbery in the Rift Valley,” he admonished the residents of Nairobi.
Despite having all tactics sketched out to combat banditry in the region, Natembeya said that he was not allowed to put a stop to it. He expressed his disappointment while chairing the region’s security committee, adding that he had done his part, but no one was willing to help with implementation. The governor of Trans Nzoia noted that the persistence of the cattle transit at night was a significant challenge in the fight against banditry, as it enabled the bandits to continue stealing livestock with impunity.
