President William Ruto has ordered a joint operation by the Kenya Defence Forces(KDF) and police security operation in the North Rift to flush out bandits.
Speaking to local leaders at the Nakuru State Lodge on Monday February 13, President Ruto stated that the exercise will be a three-day voluntary disarmament exercise.
“We will deal firmly with the drivers of illegal arms in the country. This is necessary and urgent, particularly in the North Rift. We must always endeavor to nurture peace for the transformation of our country,” Ruto said in a statement after the meeting.
Ruto issued a similar directive on Sunday, February 12, when he ordered Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki out of his office on Harambee Avenue and to the region where he is expected to restore security.
“CS Kindiki is not here today because he was in Baringo and in Turkana the day before. I told him to leave his Nairobi office and go live in the North Rift until the banditry stops,” Ruto stated.
Four police officers were brutally murdered by bandits on the Kitale-Lodwar highway in the Kaakong area of Turkana County on Friday, February 10.
Seven other police officers, including a sub-county Police Commander, were also wounded in the attack which lasted for hours into the night.
On Thursday last week, bandits posing as bystanders in the Kakong region of Turkana South ambushed a Public Service Vehicle en route to Lodwar and sprayed it with bullets, killing three people.
Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya on Sunday gave President William Ruto a solution to deal with the bandit attacks, noting that deploying police officers was not a viable solution.
“I beseech you to talk to the locals in these regions and you will get to the bottom of the banditry problem,” Natembeya stated.
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