End of Cattle Rustling by 2030

The year is 2030 and I am on my way to visit an old man on the shores of Lake Baringo. I am a junior journalist with a leading county newspaper. I am writing a piece on the last traditional cattle tracker. In the height of his carrier, he was in high demand and was used by both anti-stock theft police and villagers in tracking down herds of cattle that had been stolen by cattle rustlers. His was a dead profession, a victim of technological advances but a firsthand witness to the dramatic end of cattle rustling in Kenya. 

He is not bitter as I come to find out; at the vanishing of a traditional profession that had been passed down from generation to generation. His father had been a renowned tracker and he had passed on his expertise to him. However as the passage of time would have it, his skills became obsolete. Unbeknown to him, his profession and way of doing things had been a source of embarrassment to the government for some time. The government at the time had been found wanting in its fight against cattle rustling. That in the 21^st century, in the age of digital innovations, it still relied on analogue traditional ways. That in the age of GPS tracking systems, it still relied on traditional trackers who analyzed foot prints and broken grass blades to track stolen cattle. 

Cattle rustling was one of the most violent runaway crimes carried over from pre-colonial times. When a community would invade another community and carry away their women and cattle. Though human beings were no longer stolen and carried away into neighboring communities, it was still a bloody practice. They no longer carried away human being but rather slaughtered them mercilessly. Women and children would be sprayed with bullets; pregnant women stomachs ripped open and their cattle, their source of wealth carried away. These marauding gangs had the audacity at one time to ambush and kill hundreds of policemen who had tracked them down. 

The government was desperate to put an end to this barbaric practice once and for all. Many ideas were floated and it seemed the government was ready to try just about anything to put an end to cattle rustling. One of the popular ideas was to purchase tens of helicopters to respond whenever there was an invasion by cattle rustlers. Though this idea appealed to the public in respect to its portrayal of commitment, it failed by a long short in its practical applicability and long-term sustainability. What was needed was an innovative approach that utilized relevant and available technologies. The use of apparatus that would be low on cost, low on human resource and lean enough in its operational demands that county governments could easily manage with little support from the central government. 

So instead of purchasing tens of helicopters, the counties that were victims of cattle rustling would share only two attack helicopters and two teams of special Para military squads of twelve members each. The rest of the money that was meant to purchase helicopters was used to purchase GPS tracking systems. And a fraction of the recurrent expenditure that would have been incurred fueling the helicopters was used to keep an operational GPS tracking network. 

The GPS chips were no bigger than a finger nail and would be injected on the horns, hoofs or beneath the hide of the cattle. At first they were placed on one out of say 10 cattle. Since what was needed was to track one of the cows in the herd to find the rest. Later the chips were so readily available that each cow had one. In the beginning this chips were provided by the government but later on they could be bought at veterinary shops like other agricultural products. In addition to the GPS chips, the government provided community police reservists and area chiefs with satellite phones. So that in the initial phase there was a satellite phone for every 10km radius and later this came down to 1km radius. This allowed for swift reporting in case of an incursion by cattle rustlers. Once the response center received a report, they would isolate the cattle from that particular village on their GPS network and identify their exact position and movement. This would be communicated to the rapid response team of Para troopers who would ambush and eliminate the attackers using their attack helicopters and heavy artillery. With the element of surprise on their side, their recovery record stood at 100% from the day the GPS program was launched. 

During the feasibility study of the GPS program it was argued that if the west could plant GPS chips on their pets, cats, dogs and humans alike how much less on cattle. If a hundred cattle were stolen and just one had a GPS tracking chip it could lead to the recovery of the whole herd. It was also argued that if even one satellite phone existed even in a radius of 30km, any attack would be reported within the hour. And if there existed even one attack helicopter, the response team of Special Forces would be on the heels of the attackers within the same hour. It came to pass that there were only five or so attacks after the GPS program was implemented, of which all the cattle were recovered and cattle rustlers finally gave up on these hopeless missions.  

Once it was possible to inject every cow, camel, goat and sheep with a GPS tracking chip, a tagging system was introduced. This tagging system would allow each chip to be uploaded with full information on the cattle; its owner, geographical area of origin to the village, types of vaccines and medical history. All this information would be available and in fact was demanded by all abattoirs before an animal was accepted for slaughter. This system of tagging had long been used in the flower and horticulture industry. It was illegal to buy or sell cattle without authenticating the GPS and information chips. It was also impossible to transport any cow, goat or sheep on the Kenyan roads since police inspection involved accessing information on these chips. This was a case of traditional way of life being overtaken by the advent of technology and eliminating a bloody practice on its wake. 

I learned from the traditional trackers that in some communities, cattle’s rustling was considered a form of initiation into adulthood. That one could not be considered a fully fledged man if he had not participated in a raid and even killed a member of the opposing community. They would scar themselves for every raid or kill that they had participated in. So for a while after the implementation of the GPS program these communities had toyed with the idea of having their youth invade their neighboring communities not to shed blood or steal cattle but to steal special paraphernalia that would be hang on trees deep inside their opposing community villages. This was to be regarded same as stealing cattle. However this practice did not take root as cattle rustling had long lost its cultural value but had been turned into a criminal venture for financial gain.