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Murkomen links security officers to illegal firearms smuggling in banditry zones
What you need to know:
- Murkomen claimed that locals in insecurity-prone areas are taking advantage of the situation to acquire guns as a guarantor of security.
- The CS also raised concerns that the security lapse has been aggravated due to the lack of police stations in the affected areas.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has linked the smuggling of illegal guns and ammunition to security officers deployed in insecurity-prone areas to restore order.
The CS confirmed that the situation has been worsened by the fact that the State cannot account for the number of bullets used, especially in areas under security operations.
Speaking during a media briefing at the Baringo County Commissioner’s office in Kabarnet ahead of the Jukwaa La Usalama engagement at the Baringo National Polytechnic, he said that some of the bullets bandits possess are sold to them by police officers.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen speaks to the media at Nandi County Commissioner's office in Kapsabet on July 24, 2025.
“This is a fact because we also have rogue police officers and rogue government officials in different parts who are facilitators. Targeted intelligence-led investigations have led to a number of people being charged in court, and some have even been convicted or fired from government offices,” said CS Murkomen.
On accountability of bullets, he cited an instance where police officers respond to an attack by bandits on a certain village using an armoured vehicle and discharge more than 1,000 bullets.
“How will you account for that? If you have a rogue officer, they will always find a way of proving their claims. Some will tell you they used 1,000 bullets, and maybe they used only 50, then they go and sell the rest. Rogue officers will get away with it because where they operate is bush... they may fight the whole day and you will not know the number of bullets they used,” said the CS.
“We will use intelligence-led reports to get those officers who are rogue, and civilians normally report the cases. When we find the suspects, the necessary legal processes are used to make sure that they are dealt with,” he added.
He also raised concerns that there are civilians who sell guns and ammunition, including professionals from the affected areas, indicating that he has warned some of them privately and publicly, depending on security reports.
“We do not want to encourage the selling of firearms in any part of our country, let alone this county. The temptation usually comes in when a village has been attacked by bandits and the leaders incite the locals to procure guns in the name of defending themselves. I am discouraging such temptation and I am very firm and ruthless, even in my own village,” he noted.
He claimed that locals in the insecurity-prone areas are taking advantage of the situation to acquire guns as a guarantor of security.
“We will not accept that, and there is no justification to own an illegal gun in the name of having been attacked by criminals for many years. Let the government do its part, and if we have failed before, we have now come out to assure you that we will do everything possible to make sure the place is peaceful. I am not saying this for public relations stunts but to restore sanity once and for all,” said Mr Murkomen.
He also raised concerns that the security lapse has been aggravated due to the lack of police stations in the affected areas, especially in Tiaty Constituency, which has no police stations, let alone camps to provide law and order.
Harbouring criminals
“We are going to set up seven police stations in the constituency to restore sanity in the area, and four of them will be constructed before December. They will be set up in the far-flung areas. You can imagine Silale Ward, which is claimed to be harbouring criminals but has no single police station,” he noted.
“We want the government to be present where there is a problem—not just to come and create a buffer between two constituencies. We want the presence of government in the affected areas,” he added.
For instance, the only police stations in the vast constituency are in Nginyang’ and Chemolingot in Tiaty West and Tangulbei in Tiaty East, respectively, with police posts in Churo, Dira, and Kolowa.
There is also a Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) camp in Chepkalacha and another in the restive Mukutani, bordering Baringo South and Tiaty East sub-counties.
There are no security officers deployed or police posts set up in the ‘notorious’ far-flung villages like Paka, Naudo, Silale, Korosi, Riong’o, Nasorot, Nakoko, Komolion, Akwichatis, Amaya, Akoret, Kongor, Kapau, among others.
Baringo County has a land mass of 11,075 km² and six constituencies. Tiaty takes a lion’s share of 4,517 square kilometres.
In the past, Tirioko MCA Sam Lourien had raised concerns that in his ward, for instance, there is no single police post or police camp despite the area being insecure.
The vast ward, he said, has three divisions—Akoret, Ng’oron, and Tirioko—with no single police station or police post.
He faulted the government for spending a lot of resources carrying out security operations but failing to set up a single police post in the affected areas to restore sanity and provide law and order.
“How do you expect banditry to end when we do not have security officers, let alone a police post in the notorious villages? It is absolutely impossible because people don’t have that guidance on the dos and don'ts in society. They don’t even know what the government wants them to do. This government should realize that there is a need to set up the same, and the issues of operation come later,” said MCA Lourien.
