The Pastoralist Parliamentary Group (PPG) was formed in 1998. Its purpose is to mainstream the pastoralists’ agenda within the national political and policy processes.

The membership of PPG is open to all members elected or nominated from the pastoralist counties to the National Assembly (MPs/CWR) and the Senate (Senators) regardless of their ethnicity or political party affiliation. The membership of PPG in the 13th Parliament (2022-2027) stands at 96 members from 10 political parties and 4 Members elected as independents tickets. There were a total of 25 women parliamentarians among the PPG members at the beginning of the term including the first pastoralist woman elected to the Senate from Isiolo County. The PPG members represent 15 Counties and 64 single-member elected parliamentary constituencies with a total of 2,593,165 registered voters in 2017. The total number of people recorded by the national population census in these 15 counties is 9,787,730 people.

Download the 12th Parliament PPG Scorecard here.

Overall strategic objectives

1. To eliminate inter-communal conflict in the pastoralist areas.
2. To realise constitutional, statutory, institutional and policy gains for pastoralists.
3. To advance the interests of pastoralist women through the policy & legislative process.
4. To contribute towards a more positive recognition of pastoralism in Kenya and beyond.
5. To build a unified and sustainable PPG with the capacity to deliver on its mandate.

Key Priority Areas

Priority themes and strategies

The PPG Women Caucus in the 13th Parliament held its 1st meeting on 11th October 2022. The women members of Parliament agreed to collaborate with others, support each other and champion various policy and legislative priorities in the 13th Parliament that will have a high impact during their term in the 13th Parliament.

Over the next five years, the PPG women’s caucus in collaboration with partners will effectively carry out its parliamentary role of oversight, legislation and representing the people.

The women MPs resolved to champion the following priorities:

1. Enhance partnership, collaboration, capacity building and mentoring of the newly elected PPG women MPs.
2. Ending drought emergencies, Climate change adaptation and building resilience in the pastoralist communities.
3. Ending cattle rustling and banditry in Northern Kenya constituencies.
4. Preventing Gender-Based Violence, teenage pregnancies and promote access to sanitary Pads & Pants by girls and women in remote pastoralist areas.
5. Thematic sectors of Education for the nomadic children, development of integrated water solutions and provision of clean water for humans and livestock and secure the registration of community land under CLA 2016.
6. Countering Youth Radicalization, Drug menace & substance abuse by pastoralists youths.

Over next five years, the PPG members will focus on implementing a work plan around four critical thematic areas;

Legislation: Fast tracking of, or re-introducing amendments to the draft legislation of the livestock bill and livestock product marketing Board, nomadic education and the Equalization Fund. Ending the cattle rustling and highway banditry.
Policy implementation and Oversight. To ensure the full implementation of the community land Act 2016. Ending the drought emergencies. Development of comprehensive lasting peace and sustainable development in the Northern Kenya region.
Representation: Amplify the voices of the pastoralist people on the national platform, in the policy dialogue, national debates and policy development discourses.
PPG women caucus will champion and rally all other stakeholders to end inter community conflicts and cattle rustling and banditry. Enough is Enough. Citizens of Northern Kenya want answers to the questions; what has been happening. Why are people being killed and the government not arresting anyone for the killing? How did we get here? In Marsabit alone 578 innocent people were killed over 4 years and not a single person is being held responsible for these senseless deaths. Therefore, what can be done differently? Whatever needs to be done must be done and whatever it is that needs to be done in Northern Kenya, cattle rustling, highway banditry and threats to peoples’ lives and property must come to end!!
Achieving this goal is a long process that the government and all stakeholders must work together to demonstrate commitment. PPG women MPs will provide the political leadership and support peace initiatives and ensure all issues that need to be done are well coordinated.

Must be done

The politicians must offer good will that is critically needed, and fully cooperate with the authorities to end the insecurity menace in the region. The mistrust between the pastoralist and government officials must be solved. All incidents that led to inter-community tensions must be managed and well coordinated. The aim is to end inter community conflicts in pastoralist areas. The counties targeted are Samburu, Turkana, Isiolo, Wajir, Garissa, Tana River, Baringo, Laikipia, Marsabit and Lamu.

PPG members code of conduct

The PPG members need to confront attitudes that promote communities showing disrespect for each other. They should consistently and deliberately promote inter community dialogue and be in the forefront of finding practical solutions to real challenges of insecurity that are facing the people of Northern Kenya. The members should mobilize the power of their collective efforts to tackle real and all underlying issues of insecurity and human deaths. PPG will always be seen to adopt a unified approach to issues of insecurity. Members should step aside from the partisan engagement in matters related to inter community conflict. Actively end group internal divisions that are based on ethnic and political approaches that have created distrust among the PPG membership over years.

PPG needs to embrace new ways of speaking and action. A unified voice and mobilising its collective power to create a more conducive environment for supporting peace in their role of making laws, representing the people and overseeing the work of the executive arm of government.

Major intervention areas

1. Peace meetings and national security policy review and police reform.
2. Promote two mega inter-county quality boarding schools that will bring together bright children from all warring groups to live together, play together, grow together and learn together to respect national values. (One for the North Rift, and another for Northern Frontier Counties).
3. Institute a code of conduct for PPG members that will institutionalise their roles as peace ambassadors.
4. Confronting the challenge of youth radicalization in pastoralist areas. The PPG works in partnership at national and county level to implement anti-radicalization interventions for youth.