Interior PS nominee Raymond Omollo on how to address rising crime cases in Kenya

The Principal Secretary nominee for Interior, Raymond Omollo, has laid out a raft of measures he proposes in the fight against the rising crime rate across the country.

Appearing before the National Assembly Administration and Internal Affairs Committee for vetting on Monday, Omollo called for the strengthening of the National Police Service’s intelligence service mechanism.

“We need to better equip our police officers in terms of intelligence gathering so that we don’t have wholesome condemnation of youth the youth and other cadres of people as being the cause of criminal acts,” he said.

While attributing the increase in crime incidences across the country to the biting cost of living Kenyans are grappling with, Omollo said the government needs to lower the cost of living.

“If we don’t address the issues around the state of the economy, unemployment, and underemployment, we would be lying to ourselves that the rate of crime will go down but this should not be an excuse for people to become criminals,” said the PS nominee.

Omollo further recommended the use of technology to combat cattle rustling which has been rampant in sections of the Rift Valley and Northern Kenya regions.

“The government has no room for cattle rustling. Besides community engagements and equipping officers to improve their response time, there is need for new ways of combating cattle rustling and where possible the use of technology such as identity tags for livestock,” he said.

There has been public outrage that the National Police Service is failing Kenyans owing to rising cases of broad daylight stabbings, shootings, and murder across the country, which largely go unsolved.

Newly sworn-in Police IG Japhet Koome last week vowed to address rising cases of insecurity across the country, noting that he was well aware that Kenya has become increasingly insecure in the past few months.

"I'd like to tell all those crooks that are disturbing the peace by stealing, stabbing and shooting people that this will no longer happen under my watch. I will not sleep on the job," said Koome on Friday.