Kindiki: Police reservists to continue helping police and KDF in bandit prone areas
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki speaking at Garissa University on November 13, 2023. He said the state will not victimise North Eastern Region residents when fighting terrorism.
What you need to know:
- Interior CS Kithure Kindiki said they have reviewed the progress of Operation Maliza Uhalifu in bandit-hit areas.
- To seal off operational gaps, government reorganising the management, command and control of the National Police Reservists (NPR) to supplement the Police Service (NPS) and Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) in the operation.
The government is targeting to reorganise the management, command and control of the National Police Reservists (NPR) to supplement the capabilities of the National Police Service (NPS) and Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) in the operation.
On a tour to the banditry prone Ng’aratuko village in Baringo North on Tuesday, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki on a meeting with local security heads and field commanders said they have reviewed the progress of Operation Maliza Uhalifu, a security operation mounted by the state in February to tame the perennial bandit attacks in the insecurity prone Baringo, Turkana, Elgeyo Marakwet, Samburu, West Pokot and Laikipia Counties.
His tour comes two days after a fresh banditry attack was staged by armed criminals in the volatile border that saw a herder sustain gunshot injuries and hundreds of livestock driven away by attackers suspected to be from the neighbouring Tiaty constituency.
According to the CS, the government has stepped up the effort to rid the country of violent bandit attacks and while significant strides have been made, much more needs to be done.
“To seal off operational gaps, we are forthwith reorganising the management, command and control of the National Police Reservists (NPR) to supplement the capabilities of the National Police Service (NPS) and Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) in the operation,” said CS Kindiki.
The CS also said the recruitment of reservists will be streamlined, with a clear operational command to ensure they are not sucked into local political issues.
He also held an impromptu views taking session with members of the local community at Ngaratuko Primary School and a strategy and operational review meeting with operation commanders, heads of various security agencies and commanders of formed up units.
“The officers we have deployed will be on the ground forever. This is not a one-off deployment. Banditry and livestock theft will be a thing of the past.Their main work will be to help Kenya Police Service Officers and KDF soldiers seal off escape routes used by bandits coz they have a better understanding of the terrain, being locals,” said Prof Kindiki.
He however dismissed calls by some political leaders who claim there's favoritism in the ongoing joint security operation by the National Police Service and Kenya Defence Forces operation.
“I want to encourage residents of areas that have had challenges with insecurity posed by these criminals. The Government is on your side. We must team up to defeat these crooks. Don't be incited against our security officers but instead share information with our security officers. That is the surest way to defeat these criminals and their political and commercial benefactors and beneficiaries,” noted the CS.
He indicated that the ongoing operation against bandits and armed criminals has nothing to do with politics or culture, noting that there is no culture that allows people to steal other people's livestock, kill innocent and impoverish them economically.
Local leaders and residents in the banditry prone areas in Baringo North and Baringo South Sub-Counties have faulted the ongoing security operation to flush out and disarm armed criminals wreaking havoc.
They claimed that despite the government spending millions of shillings to deploy security officers in the restive villages, the exercise has borne no fruits as number of people killed by armed attackers continue to soar.
They wondered why the government was rolling out development projects in the area before disarming civilians in possession of illegal arms who have invaded the areas earlier gazetted by the state as dangerous and disturbed.
The leaders led by Baringo South MP Charles Kamuren claimed that despite the government declaration and gazettement of some villages in Baringo North and Baringo South as dangerous and disturbed, hundreds of armed criminals disguising as herders have invaded the areas undeterred.
