Influence of Cattle Rustling on School Staffing Levels in Laikipia West Sub-County in Laikipia County, Kenya
- March 12, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: IJRISS, Public Administration
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue II, February 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Henry Katana Vernon1, Dr. Grace Nyamongo2
1,2Public Administration and Management, Mount Kenyatta University, Kenya
Abstract: Education is universally recognized as one of the basic human necessities and rights and an empowering factor. In Kenya, the introduction of free primary school education in 2003 was received with mixed reactions across the country. The government’s taskforce reported that the implementation of the program was faced with a number of glaring challenges that required to be addressed. Cattle rustling remain a major issue in Laikipia, mostly in the form of small-scale theft from multiple households, intermittently with the transport of the livestock by lorry to a market abattoir or butcher, the latter is an outlet which has been used by stock thieves since colonial times. The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of cattle rustling on school staffing levels in Laikipia West Sub-County, Laikipia County, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was 2790 respondents comprising of 2,128 standard eight pupils, 73 head teachers, 584 teachers, 1 DEO and 4 inspectors from Laikipia West Sub-County. The sample size was 279 comprising of 213 standard eight pupils, 7 head teachers, 58 teachers and 1 DEO and Inspectors. Simple random sampling method was used to select respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Pre-testing was conducted to test the reliability and validity of the research instrument. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 was used to analyse the data. The study established that cattle rustling affect school staffing levels in Laikipia County. The study concluded that teacher resisted being posted in Laikipia due to insecurity and thus for fear for their lives teachers become reluctant to take up employment in these areas. The study recommended that schools should employ qualified teachers so as to increase the pupils- teacher ratio in the region.
Keywords: Cattle Rustling, School Staffing Levels
I. INTRODUCTION
A cattle rustling is the act of stealing or planning, organizing, attempting, aid or a betting the stealing of livestock by any person from any community where the theft is accompanied by dangerous weapons and/or violence (Harbum & Wallensteen, 2009). Cattle raiding traditionally denoted the war-like practice of large-scale cattle theft common to many pastoral cultures for the purposes of redistributing wealth within society, paying the bride price or warrior initiation which was sanctioned by the elders (Knighton, 2010).
