Somali herders and Kilifi locals dispute escalates
Elders gather at Gede Nursery School, Kilifi County, to address the media regarding land invasion by Somali herders. PHOTO | FILE | MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Ganze Deputy County Commissioner Richard Karani and Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire called a public baraza at Mnagoni to address the issue.
The conflict between Somali herders and the local Giriama community over pasture in Ganze, Kilifi County, is turning ugly by the day.
The dispute has been raging for more than 40 years and the government intervention seems far from succeeding.
Last month, two brothers were attacked and injured by the knife-wielding Somali herders in Mnagoni village.
The attack rekindled the bitter memories the locals have been going through since the early 60s when Somali pastoralists drove thousands of their animals to the area for pasture.
With the locals claiming that the herders invade their farms illegally, the herders on the other hand claim that they pay chiefs and their assistants to be allowed to graze in their lands.
ATTACK
The bitter feud climaxed after the last month attack, prompting Ganze Deputy County Commissioner Richard Karani and Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire to call a public baraza at Mnagoni to address the issue.
We talked to one of the victims in last month's attack, Mr Jumwa Mwambogo, at Makande estate in Mombasa. His ordeal was evident when he showed us several stitches on his left cheek inflicted by deep knife cuts.
August 7 this year was the day he was attacked by three Somali herders when he went to enquire why they were grazing on his five-acre maize farm.
Were it not for his brother Ramadhan Shikari who rescued him, he would not have lived to tell the story.
TRESPASSING
Mr Shikari also sustained deep cuts on the arm as he tried to grab the knife from the herder who was baying for Mr Mwambogo’s blood.
Mr Mwambogo, 45, says he is lucky to be alive. “They would have killed me were it not for my brother who was nearby,” the father of three said.
Mr Mwambogo said the pastoralists have brought a lot of suffering to the people of Bamba.
“When I tried to ask them why they were grazing on my land, one of them attacked me. I pushed him to the ground,” he said.
Ganze OCPD Patrick Ngeiywa confirmed the incident and said that the brothers accused the pastoralists of trespassing and destroying cowpeas and green grams which were yet to be harvested.
