International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume IV, Issue II, February 2020|ISSN 2454-6186 www.rsisinternational.org Page 276 Influence of Cattle Rustling on School Staffing Levels in Laikipia West Sub-County in Laikipia County, Kenya Henry Katana Vernon 1 , Dr. Grace Nyamongo 2 1,2 Public 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 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). Mulken (2007) cited in United Nations report on Impact of Armed Conflict on Children observed that two million children died in Mozambique during armed conflicts between 1986 and 1996. Consequently, six million children were seriously injured or permanently disabled, and millions more were separated from their families, physically abused, abducted into military groups and, particularly in the case of girls, traumatized by sexual violence and rape. Globally, in Middle East countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan continued to face insurgent groups who had repeatedly attacked education institutions resulting into security fears that led to the closure of over 70% of schools in Helmand province of Afghanistan. In Gaza, the occupied Palestinian territory, Israeli military attacks in 2008 and 2009 had left 350 children dead and 1,815 injured, and damaged 280 schools. The types of attack included the burning, shelling and bombing of schools, the occupation of schools by armed forces, the murder, torture, abduction and rape of teachers, students, education aid workers and school staff by armed groups or military forces, and the forced recruitment of child soldiers (Mooneyet, 2005). In Africa, violent conflicts such as cattle rustling severely affected the quality and functioning of educational institutions and the expansion of technology (Otach, 2008). According to O’Malley (2007), African countries ravaged by civil wars are characterized by physical destruction and as a result interrupted the education of children through the damage to schools, absence of teachers, fears of insecurity and changes in family structures and household income. Blattman and Miguel (2010) observed that around 28 million children of primary school age in conflict-affected countries in Africa are out of school and that African countries totally devastated by civil wars such as Somalia have witnessed classrooms, teachers and pupils as legitimate targets. In Kenya, the introduction of free primary school education in 2003 was received with mixed reactions across the country (UNESCO, 2005). 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’s rustling was and still is one of the major challenges the government faced in its effort to implement free primary school education in the marginalized parts of the country. With the rise in cases of cattle rustling in Baringo district in the past one decade, most people feared for their lives hence disruption of normal daily routines. As a result most areas that experienced cattle rustling recorded low pupil enrolment since A