Gov’t to pull out all the stops including use of brute force to end banditry – Kindiki vows
The government will deploy more armoury and personnel in the war against banditry - Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Prof. Kithure Kindiki has revealed.
Kindiki has declared that security personnel will deploy every possible response to ensure permanent normalcy and a safe learning environment across all the schools affected by banditry attacks in the North Rift.
“We have visited one of the schools where normalcy is gradually returning. I want to assure you
that all the other schools affected will be reopened without exception, and they will never be closed
again,” Kindiki said.
The Interior CS, who was addressing a public baraza in Arabal, Baringo County on Saturday, January 28, 2023, affirmed revealed that the state will pull out all the stops, including the use of brute-force incapacitation, to make banditry a costly undertaking for the perpetrators and sponsors.
He also warned that the government will pursue group-level and individual accountability for the
the violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and stunted socioeconomic development in the region
for decades.
“The government has declared banditry an existential threat to our country's future. We are going
to move in and apply every human resource and weapon we have,” he said.
“We will get out all the armoury; we will go by land; we will go by air, we will follow them to wherever they go, and we are going to smoke them out of the caves and the forests," he added.
The Interior CS called for patience from residents affected by banditry, noting that the vice had outlived previous regimes.
He however assured locals that security personnel were intensifying patrols and operations until permanent public protection and community safety are realized.
Kindiki’s visit comes on the heels of an extensive operation mounted by the Rift
Valley multi-agency security team in the lead-up to the start of the 2023 school calendar.
The Rift Valley multi-agency security team with backup from the recently deployed National Police Reservists, the team last week conducted “Operation Fungua Shule” in Chemorongion, Kapindasum, Mukutani and Arabal areas of Baringo.
President William Ruto in December last year directed the Regional and County Security teams to
see to it that all the schools reopen for term one.
