Several leaders from Taita Taveta county were yesterday grilled by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations over a dispute pitting locals against camel herders.
Governor Granton Samboja, Senator Jones Mwaruma, Woman Representative Lydia Haika, and Mwatate MP Andrew Mwadime were among those questioned.
Samboja addressed the press shortly after leaving the DCI headquarters in Nairobi yesterday.
“The matter is very simple, it is everything to do with the matter of the camels and the security within the county,” Samboja said.
Leaders in Taita Taveta are against illegal camel grazing by herders who have flooded private farms in the region.
The county government does not recognise the lease agreements entered by a section of ranchers and the camel herders.
Last month, a farmer was murdered in a cold blood by suspected camel herders at his farm in Kirumbi village when he barred them from grazing in his farm.
Residents on June 10 slaughtered at least 20 camels in retaliation for the death of the farmer.
On Monday the governor said as the county’s leadership, it was their responsibility to maintain law and order in Taita Taveta.
“I was asked a good number of questions and gave answers,” Samboja said.
In a statement to the newsrooms on Sunday, Taita Taveta communications boss Denis Onsarigo said Samboja had received a summons from detectives in relation to the long-standing grazing dispute.
“As a law-abiding citizen, the governor shall honour the summons and will appear before the DCI,” Onsarigo said.
Onsarigo urged county leaders and residents to continue fostering peace and harmony.
A case between a section of herders and the county government is ongoing at Voi High court.
Herders Mohammed Bishar, Mohammed Hassan, Rahow Malim and Kullow Ibrahim moved to court to block the government from evicting their livestock from the private ranches.
The herders claim that they had legal lease agreements with private ranchers.
But residents have protested the destruction of crops and the environment by the overgrazing camels.
(edited by O. Owino)