Assessment of Guns, Militarization and Insecurity in Cattle Rustling-Prone Regions of North Rift, Kenya

Jared Onyari Akama, Pia Okeche, Daniel Rotich Kandagor & Godfrey Ungaya
Kisii University, Kenya
Email: onyarijared@gmail.com

Cattle rustling/raids has been a challenge to security agencies and rural Kenya, particularly North Rift, which has become synonymous to the issue. The objective of this study is to examine availability of guns both legally and illegally and insecurity in cattle prone regions of North Rift. Based on Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, the study argues that when the youth increasingly become militarized through acquisition of gun knowledge, it will entice them to acquire more knowledge leading to violent behaviour. North Rift was purposively selected owing to the fact that the government has given attention due to the scale of insecurity caused by cattle rustling. The findings reveal residents aren’t comfortable with guns in the region although National Police Reservist (NPR) has contributed to the decline in frequency of cattle raids. In conclusion, availability of guns in the regions has increased level of youth being socialized into gun culture leading to militarization of the communities.