• Analysis showed different counties had unique aspects in the present-day raids.
• The report titled 'Managing the Dangerous Drift in Livestock Rustling and Banditry in Kenya' was released last month.
More than 300 Kenyans have lost their lives to rustlers, a study shows.
According to a study by the National Crime Research Centre (NCRC), this grim reality shows a collapse in value for human life.
It says more than 300 people have been killed since 2023 and there was increased use of terrorism-like violence and militarisation and the vitalisation of modern weaponry during such raids.
The study covered Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Isiolo, Kitui, Laikipia, Marsabit, Meru, Samburu, Turkana, West Pokot, Tana River, Kisumu and Nandi counties.
Further analysis showed different counties had unique aspects in the present-day raids.
The report titled 'Managing the Dangerous Drift in Livestock Rustling and Banditry in Kenya' was released last month.
The unique aspects of the crime include the commercialisation of livestock rustling and banditry, collapse or diminishing value for human life as evidenced by the higher number of people injured and killed, increased and or frequent raids and the higher number of animals stolen.
The study showed the leading counties are Laikipia, West Pokot, Samburu, Meru, Elgeyo Marakwet, Isiolo, Turkana, Baringo and Marsabit.
Other unique aspects of banditry, according to the NCRC, are displacement of huge populations and use of vehicles and boda boda to transport stolen livestock.
It also cited change from an ‘organised cultural sport’ to an ‘organised crime’, increased involvement of politicians in livestock rustling and banditry, utilisation of mobile phone and other technology in conducting such raids and destruction of infrastructure, including houses and schools.
“There is also increased role of women in the perpetration of livestock rustling and banditry and use of such raids to contest against government programmes,” the NCRC report states.
The main drivers of the present-day raids have been identified as the commercialisation of livestock rustling and banditry, and the inability of the government to provide adequate security protection to vulnerable local communities.
It also mentions proliferation of illegal small arms and light weapons, high levels of ignorance and illiteracy, economic and poverty vulnerability, historical ethnic and inter-community hostility, and competition over scarce natural and economic resources.
The proliferation of illegal small arms was found not to be a driver in Kisumu and Nandi counties.
County-disaggregated data also showed inadequately regulated market for livestock related products was a major driver of livestock rustling and banditry in all counties except in Nandi, Tana River, Kitui and Turkana counties.
On the other hand, cycles of revenge were a major factor for livestock rustling and banditry in all the study counties except in Kisumu, Nandi, Baringo, Tana River and Meru.
In other counties, apart from Kisumu, Nandi, Tana River and Kitui, the raids were majorly fuelled by the need to re-stock after loss of livestock during droughts.
Most sample respondents in all the counties except in Kisumu, Nandi, Tana River, Kitui and Turkana, believed livestock rustling and banditry was majorly a factor of developmental marginalisation of the pastoral cluster regions.
According to the study, rustling has metamorphosed over time, with implications for change of tact in combating the present form of the menace.
Further, its complexity and threat to national security necessitates a multifaceted and multiagency approach that does not overprioritise the current militarisation and policing of the problem whose success has been sluggish.
NCRC has recommended enhanced climate-smart livestock-specific development programmes aimed at improving livestock health and survival in the pastoral cluster.
Other recommendations include a deliberate programme for improved and incentivised access to literacy and formal education by the boy-child in pastoralist regions.