The pastoralist leadership summit has listed 12 key areas that need government’s support to unlock region’s full potential.
In a joint communiqué read by patron of the Northern Kenya Parliamentary Group Rasso Dido, the leaders listed peace and security, pastoralism and livestock sector development and operationalisation of the pastoralist livestock and livestock products marketing board.
Others are Camel Centre of Excellence, pastoralist livestock cooperative development project, community land registration, gender and youth.
The leaders are also seeking support to finance the common programme framework for ending drought emergencies.
They are seeking support and cooperation for a coordinated multi-sectoral approach from the two levels of government, development partners and the private sector.
On peace and security, the leaders urged policymakers to prioritise localising peacebuilding by tailoring funding, strategies and interventions to local contexts.
They also want root causes of conflict and disputes at the grassroots level addressed to build community-led sustainable peace.
“Both levels of government shall adopt a new security framework, centering citizens’ roles in managing their security. The national government will direct public resources and nondiscriminatory political will to address conflict, conversing international dynamics that fuel inter-community conflicts — resolve to make a deliberate effort to end the use of cattle rustling narrative in the official language and manage it as a criminal activity,” Dido said.
On pastoralism and livestock sector development, they called for the actualisation of Garissa’s 3rd Pastoralist Leadership Summit resolutions.
At the summit, county governments committed to allocate at least 10 per cent of the county development budgets to livestock sector development.
“The president shall immediately appoint the chair of the Pastoralist Livestock and Livestock Products Marketing Board to operationalise the board as per legal notice no. 87 of June 2nd, 2016,” the communique said.
The leaders called for the establishment of a dedicated unit within the Ministry of Co-operatives and SME to facilitate and support the county governments to form pastoralist livestock cooperatives.
The leaders urged the national government to urgently allocate a dedicated budget for implementing the Community Land Act 2016, which aims to identify, recognise, protect and secure community land rights.
The Act also empowers productive citizens to use their land in an equitable, economically and environmentally viable manner.
On financing the Common Programme Framework for Ending Drought Emergencies, they said the two levels of government shall urgently align the plans set out in the EDE framework to their respective development plans and strategically domicile the state Department of Arid and Semi-Arid Lands under the presidency for effective resource mobilisation and coordination.
“We recognise the progress made in our region, challenges, and opportunities and we reaffirm our collective commitment to achieving the pastoralist people’s aspirations and realising our full potential. We came together inspired by our commonality,” Dido said.
He said the summit will energise their commitment to unlocking policy and financing bottlenecks and maximising the full potential of Kenya’s pastoralist region for the common benefit of the nation and pastoralists.
President William Ruto
closed the three-day summit.
