Bandits overpowered, passport cartels dismantled: Kindiki lists his achievements as Interior CS

Delivering his maiden address at Harambee Annex in Nairobi on Thursday, Kindiki outlined key successes in the security ministry noting that under his leadership, bandits who had terrorized residents for decades were "overpowered and scattered."

“As I relinquish the leadership of the Interior Ministry, I am proud to report that save for a few inevitable losses, Lamu and North Eastern Kenya are much safer and calmer today than the situation was during the last half of 2022,” Kindiki said.

Reflecting on the situation he encountered when assuming office in 2022, Kindiki described widespread unrest across parts of North Eastern Kenya, Lamu, and the Northern Rift Valley, which he said had since been significantly suppressed.

He pointed out that his decision to gazette the areas as "disturbed" and "dangerous" in 2023 and deploy the military, was a strategy that successfully drove bandits out of these regions. 

“I took over this sensitive duty at Harambee House at a time when communities in North Eastern Kenya and in Lamu were experiencing frequent and sustained terror attacks; marauding bandits had run amok over communities in vast parts of the Northern Rift Valley Region; gang crime was at its peak in Nairobi City,” he said.

“To arrest possible breakdown of law and order, a police-led security operation with the support of the military was declared on 13th February 2023. It has been 19 months of sustained war on bandits in the North,” Kindiki noted.

He added, “Heavily armed bandits were flushed from these areas in a process that lasted several months. Their outdated gimmicks of taunting security forces and sometimes staging daylight raids were eventually crushed through intelligence-led operations, superior firepower and efficient operational and tactical outputs that resulted in the neutralization of dangerous bandit commanders and their spiritual influencers.”

Prof Kindiki recalled a time when bandits were killing innocent civilians, raiding villages and vandalising schools, saying that his reign managed to bring sanity to the affected areas where closed institutions were also reopened.

He said that Ruto’s role helped to provide resources to the security agencies which were ultimately motivated in the fight against bandits and gangs.

“19 months after President Ruto ordered the most consequential security operation against banditry ever to take place in Northern Kenya, the infrastructure that had sustained banditry for over four decades has been suppressed and dismantled,” stated the DP.

“Bandit gangs and their enablers have been overpowered and scattered, despite occasional feeble attempts to resuscitate this horrendous crime against the people of Kenya.’

On improvements to passport processing, Kindiki shared that his administration had reduced the backlog of 724,000 passport applications and accelerated production timelines from 12 months in 2022 to just seven days.

"The passport production and delivery waiting period has been reduced from more than 12 months in 2022 to 7 days at present. The backlog of 724,000 passports has been cleared and the challenge now is to expedite the delivery process to clear the 85,000 uncollected passports that are ready," he explained.

"As I leave the reins of the Ministry, I am proud to report that the corruption cartels of staff and members of the public that used to harass passport applicants have been dismantled and 17 ringleaders, including immigration officers, are facing ongoing criminal prosecution," he said.

"I am convinced beyond doubt that the milestone of reducing the waiting period from the current 7 days to 3 days by the close of this year remains feasible."