Last week on Monday, February 6, Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof Kithure Kindiki addressed the nation claiming that he has shredded the perennial banditry in the North Rift region by 13.5%.
In what he called his “100 days in office scorecard”, CS Kindiki claimed that since coming into office he has stepped up security in the Capital City and the crime rate has slowly died down.
“Crime in the country has reduced by 13.5% from 8,297 reported incidents to 7,179 incidents in absolute numbers. Urban crime especially the Nairobi muggings that had threatened to disrupt our way of life and businesses in our capital city in the September, and October Season has now been contained,” he said.
Still, with his ambitious remarks, Kindiki claimed that he has also managed to “disrupt the banditry network” and vowed to be very abrasive to perpetrators until he permanently puts an end to the malady.
“On behalf of a hurting nation, I pledge to oversee the complete and permanent end of banditry and livestock rustling in our country. The die is cast,” he said.
“This will not go instantly. We are clear in our minds that this problem will be with us for a short while.”
Three days later, on Thursday, February 16, three people were killed and one critically injured in another attack at Kakong area in Turkana South, where bandits who posed as bystanders along the road ambushed a Lodwar-bound Public Service Vehicle, spraying it with bullets.
On Friday, February 10, six people, among them four police officers, lost their lives in a bandit attack on the Kitale – Lodwar highway at Kaakong area of Turkana County.
At the same time, seven officers were hospitalised with gunshot wounds in the gunfight that lasted hours into the night.
The fierce gunfight was recorded by a passenger in a vehicle that was part of a convoy of vehicles escorted by police and showed bandits numbering about 300 in the bush.
Within one week, even before CS Kindiki’s ink dried on paper, nine people have been killed among them four police officers.
Another eight people, among them seven officers, have been hospitalised with critical injuries.
The trend has seemingly cast doubt on Kindiki’s claims because banditry is evidently still claiming sovereignty over police troops.
At the same time, political and regional leaders have also cried foul over the loss of lives attributed to banditry calling for stern action from the security agencies, most claiming that police officers have not yet been deployed to the areas.
Political leaders from the Rift Valley region are asking President William Ruto to order the deployment of military officers to Kerio Valley and other banditry-prone parts of the country to restore normalcy and end the menace once and for all.
On Saturday, political leaders from the Rift Valley region asked President William Ruto to order the deployment of military officers to Kerio Valley and other banditry-prone parts of the country to restore normalcy.
The leaders, among them Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot, also want comprehensive disarmament of all communities in the region, citing cattle rustling and banditry as retrogressive and criminal practices.
Marakwest West MP Timothy Toroitich said: “There is a problem in Kerio Valley, it is being run by a militia. This government was elected to protect the lives and the property of the people, it is sad to note that the government has abdicated that responsibility.”
Kericho Senator Cheruiyot stated: “Hii mambo ya tunaambiwa ati kuna majeshi na wanalala barracks, sijui wanangojea vita nchi gani…nataka kuambia rais wetu tafadhali amrisha hao majeshi wakuje Kerio Valley wapambane na hawa watu ambao wanaua watoto wa watu kila siku.”
On Sunday, during a thanksgiving service in Nakuru, Trans-Nzoia governor George Natembeya laid bare the raw state of affairs in the fight against banditry.
Narrating his experience while serving as the Rift Valley Regional Commissioner (RC), Natembeya said that he never received any funds to combat insecurity in the region, more reason why he chose to resign from the job.
He told President Ruto, who was also in attendance, that a lot is being kept behind wraps regarding the conditions officers are subjected to and the matter has been totally ignored.
“I was the Regional Commander in Rift Valley and I really fought with insecurity. There are things you’ll never be told Mr. President. During my 3-year tenure as the RC I did not receive even a single cent to fight insecurity,” he said.
He added that the officers barely receive any allowances and earn the same salary as traffic officers.
So appalling is the situation, Natembeya added, that officers are forced to exchange ammunition with bandits just to get goats to cater for their meals.
“These officers who we see are being shot dead, and none of them is being given allowance the salary they get is the same a traffic police officer receives. There is no incentive whatsoever,” he said.
He added: “It even gets to a point officers are forced to engage in an unholy alliance with the bandits. They give out bullets in exchange for goats so that they can get something to eat. We have really embarrassed ourselves.”
“We even requested more manpower from the army and the former president provided the team for 10 days. And what happened at the Laikipia conservancy is what made me quit this job because officers are given the coordinates where the bandits are but they end up attacking a different place because the people they are meant to fight are the same ones benefiting them.”
And when President Ruto took the stage he said that he has ordered CS Kindiki to relocate to the insecurity-stricken region where he is expected to restore security.
“CS Kindiki is not here today because he was in Baringo today. He was in Turkana yesterday. I have told him to leave his office in Nairobi to go and live in the North Rift until the banditry comes to an end,” said Ruto.
The situation has been getting worse in recent weeks, as bandits wreak havoc, leaving a trail of death, injuries, and theft of livestock, depriving residents of their economic lifeline.
Baringo, Turkana and Elgeyo Marakwet have been the most affected counties.
