Managing cattle rustling by enhancing police–community cooperation in the Karamoja Cluster: Lessons from Baringo, Kenya

ABSTRACT The Karamoja Cluster is the epicentre of Africa’s decades-old problem of cattle rustling. Recent reports indicate a rise in livestock theft, despite the unilateral and multilateral interventions of the cluster’s respective governments. Paradoxically, with the deployment of elite and specialised police units – and in some cases even the military – the number of fatalities, frequency of incidences and amount of livestock stolen all continue to increase. Using Baringo, Kenya as a case study, this article investigates why cattle rustlers continue to thrive in the Karamoja Cluster. Police legitimacy theory, frustration–aggression theory and theory of eco-violence were employed and both primary and secondary data sources were used, including interviews with 32 purposively selected respondents. It was found that coercive government responses to cattle rustling have resulted in the perception of police illegitimacy and consequently in non-cooperation between the community and the police. It is recommended that the Karamoja Cluster’s governments re-evaluate their intervention strategies with a view to fostering a positive police–community relationship in the areas most afflicted by cattle rustling, and that they deploy local reservists who are more aligned with local sociocultural dynamics in order to increase community acceptance of and cooperation with the police.