About 4,000 head of Tanzanian cattle saized in Kenya.

 

 At least 4,000 head of Tanzanian cattle have been seized in a Kenyan Maasaicommunity in Kajiado County.

This comes just two weeks after the government auctioned 1,305 head of cattleseized in Mwanga District, Kilimanjaro Region, for allegedly illegally crossing the Tanzania-Kenya border.

According to a BBC DirayaDunianews programme on Wednesday, November 1, 2017, the commissioner in Kajiado County in southern Kenya is struggling to stopthe Maasaicommunity in Kenya from confiscating Tanzanian cattleas an act of revenge.

“Pastoralists planto seize whatever head of cattle that will cross from Tanzania to Kenya, but I’m trying hard to ensure they don’t do that,” commissioner of Kajiado County HarsamaKello told the BBC.

Kajiado residents are nomadic pastoralists although some of them practise subsistence agriculture.

“There is no way that we can let this to go on. It’s too bad for diplomacy and relationship of the two countries as we are neighbours and share common interests,” he noted.

Maasai herdsmen from Kenya have been crossing the border into the country to graze their cattle whenever there is a shortage of pasture in their areas.

However, the government says large herbivores are threatened by destructive human activities like encroachment on grazing, soil erosion and conflict between farmers and pastoralists.