Return stolen animals — Kamuren

Baringo South MP Charles Kamuren has rubbished claims by his Tiaty counterpart William Kamket that Pokot people were dying of hunger.

So far cumulatively, 21 people have reportedly died and been buried in Baringo and Turkana counties amid the ongoing famine and drought.

“Pokots have always mastered the art of pretending by even faking deaths to appear as if the situation is really serious in order to attract humanitarian help,” Kamuren said.

He was speaking while launching a participatory range land management committee at Irong conservancy on Saturday. He later attended a prize giving ceremony at Senetwo Secondary School in his constituency.

During a food donation at Nginyang presided over by Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa and Senator Gideon Moi, Silale MCA Nelson Lotela gave a list of 17 locals who died of hunger in his ward alone since January this year.

“The same pokots have been terrorising our people in Baringo South, Baringo North and Turkana, crippling them economically, so they should first of all return the thousands of animals they stole before complaining of deadly hunger,” Kamuren said.

He further urged the government to stop being persuaded by Kamket and "his dramatic and deceitful people".

The MP, however, said the genuine people who deserve urgent food donations are the Tugen and Ilchamus pastoral communities who, for many years, have lost all their livestock to lethal cattle rustlers.

Speaking during the food donation at Nginyang, Kamket and Senator Moi urged the government to supply foodstuff faster to salvage lives.

“The situation is dire owing to short rains and prolonged droughts since September last year and now my people are really dying of hunger,” Kamket said.

In February, Kamket and Kamuren differed over resettlement of the bandit attack victims-the Ilchamus residents at Mukutani.

“Mukutani is in Tiaty and as the MP, I am now responsible to supply them with identification cards, bursaries and even health facilities,” Kamket said.

But on Thursday, Kamuren said his people at Mukutani IDP camp are suffering from acute hunger and lack medical attention, appealing to the government and well-wishers to move faster to assist supply them with foodstuffs and drugs.

“I wonder why the government always crosses our land to go and donate life-saving materials to Pokot leaving behind the most genuine cases,” he said.

Meanwhile, the government still maintains that nobody has since died of hunger, noting sufficient preparedness to deal with the drought situation.

“The harvest was good last year. So we already have up to 4 million bags of food supplements to donate to the hunger victims across the country upon request,” Wamalwa said.

Deputy President William Ruto also warned those magnifying the situation that they with face unspecified punitive acts.