The Defence CS Aden Duale has called on the residents from North Rift region to embrace education in order to quell conflicts brought by armed cattle rustling.
Talking the press in his former constituency, Garissa Township, the Defence CS said that once the North Rift residents embrace education, they will not have to engage in armed banditry and cattle rustling amidst other archaic retrogressive traditional norms frowned upon by modernism.
Duale’s call is supported by Sister Teresa Nduku of Immaculate Rescue Centre, based in Samburu where she runs a school, who noted that more often girls above ten years of age had a higher rate of absenteeism from school. On inquiry, she says that she was informed that such pupils had been booked for early or forced marriage.
Unknowingly of the commendable efforts by Immaculate Rescue Centre, Duale pointed out that part of Samburu where children have gone to school have better things to do than engaging in armed banditry, cattle rustling and other antiquated practices.
Defence CS added that as much as he neither encourages bloody fights over water and pasture, or livestock raid, it must be gotten clear residents of arid marginalized North East don’t raid each other’s livestock.
He said such fights over pasture and water not only disrupts social economic life but results in children not attending school.
“Some drop out and never return to school life,’’ regretted the first Parliamentary Majority Leader in Kenyan political history.
Duale further said that as much as north eastern region is yet to rid itself of such retrogressive vices like FGM, children dropping out of school to labour, and girls dropping out of school to be married off by older men were still a greater challenge.
“Do yourself a favour and educate your mind, all nomadic pastoralists must go to school because an educated mind behaves differently due to better exposure,’’ he noted.
The defence CS explained that in order to tame the volatile nomadic pastoralist region of such resource related violence, the government was determined to build more dams and introduce more schools so that children can see light at the end of the tunnel in the education sector.
By Amoto Ndiewo
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