By Betty Luke
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has presided over the graduation of 278 National Police Reservists recruited to reinforce security efforts in Isiolo and Marsabit, which are among the counties affected by banditry and cattle rustling.
The recruits, according to the CS, will be deployed in different parts of the counties to enforce law and order and protect the pastoral communities against attacks by criminals.
Speaking at Alamach area in Burat ward, Isiolo where 138 of the recruits graduated, CS Kindiki urged them to make use of skills gained and the firearms issued by the government to end cattle rustling in the region.
“Do not let the criminals get you before you neutralize them. Make proper use of the guns to protect yourselves and the community against attack by criminals,” CS Kindiki directed.
He maintained that the recruits were selected by the communities and were better placed to support the government in the fight against banditry in Northern Kenya.
“The recruits will be in the first line of defense because they are well-versed with the terrain of the areas they will be working from,” he said.
CS Kindiki assured that the government was committed to ending cattle rustling which has been a menace in Arid and Semi-Arid counties.
Isiolo, Marsabit and Samburu counties were last year marked as areas of security operation with CS Kindiki, then, directing the regional security team to map out the specific areas that were highly affected.
The move prompted a section of local leaders to plead with the government to exercise patience promising that they would engage their communities to return all the stolen livestock and encourage them to abandon cattle rustling.
The leaders, majority of them being local MCAs from Isiolo and Samburu counties, had by February recovered about 200 goats, cows, sheep and camels and reportedly identified nearly 100 suspected criminals.
It is however unclear if the outcome met the government’s expectations since the security operation has not been carried out to date even though senior security officers intimated that an operation would soon be carried out in the region.
