Disarmament a death trap for chiefs in banditry-prone Tiaty
A security officer displays firearms returned by residents in Kapedo, Turkana East, during a peace meeting attended by Rift Valley Regional Coordinator George Natembeya and Nandi, Uasin Gishu, Baringo, Pokot and Turkana governors.
Rift Valley Regional Coordinator George Natembeya recently ordered chiefs in the banditry-prone Tiaty East and Tiaty West sub-counties to seize all illegal guns in the hands of civilians in their areas of jurisdiction.
The administrator, after a lengthy meeting at the African Inland Church Chemolingot a week ago said it was the responsibility of the chiefs and their assistants to mobilise armed locals to surrender the thousands of guns used to wreak havoc in the North Rift region.
According to Natembeya, the chiefs were to blame for the proliferation of firearms in the banditry prone counties and must be held responsible for sleeping on their jobs by failing to tame the vice and reporting armed criminals.
“The reason we are carrying out disarmament in Tiaty is because some chiefs slept on their jobs. They fail to understand the enormity of their responsibility by ensuring that locals discard retrogressive practices such as banditry. For that reason, they must mobilise locals to seize the illegal guns in their locations,” said Mr Natembeya.
Dire consequences
The regional coordinator who warned chiefs of dire consequences gave a one week ultimatum to seize the illegal guns in the two sub-counties.
However, the exercise to seize the guns is not a walk in the park for the chiefs who have to hunt down armed criminals with sophisticated firearms.
Lokis chief Johnston Long’iro said despite the efforts to disarm locals in the porous areas, they are also putting their lives at risk because they are hunting for individuals who are armed to the teeth.
“You can imagine looking for armed criminals who have sophisticated firearms yet we are not armed ourselves. Though we are putting more efforts to seize the illegal guns in a bid to bring normalcy in the troubled areas, it is not that easy,” said Mr Long’iro.
Criminals flee
He said most of the criminals flee the area especially when they get wind of a looming disarmament exercise, paralysing their efforts to track them as some flee to neighbouring counties such as West Pokot, Samburu, Laikipia and Turkana.
He told Saturday Nation that sometimes, chiefs get the names of suspected criminals but they issue threats of dire consequences if they report them to the authorities.
A chief from Kerio Valley who sought anonymity claimed that though they sometimes get the names of those behind the spate of banditry and livestock theft in the insecurity prone areas, the suspects flee to other areas and change their names completely.
“Most of the armed criminals have no identification cards and they purposely do so to hide from the authorities,” he said.
Being a chief in the region is a death trap especially in the banditry prone areas where residents view administrators as informers to the government.
Those working in Baringo North, Baringo South and Tiaty sub-counties have been on the receiving end especially when pursuing stolen livestock and tracking down suspected criminals.
Some of the administrators have been attacked by armed raiders in the past.
In 2014, Moses Chongwo, an assistant chief from Akwichatis sub location in the porous Silale ward in Tiaty was shot on both legs by armed bandits while pursuing stolen livestock
Reports have also emerged that there are some administrators abetting crime by collaborating with the criminals by shielding them from being arrested.
