Heavy police presence in North Rift stays permanent even after banditry operation over - Kindiki

The heavy police and military machinery deployed in the North Rift region in February for a security operation to quell banditry will remain in the region even after the multi-agency operation is over, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said on Wednesday.

The CS told the Senate that security officers had taken control of the key areas the government had fingered in Samburu, Turkana, West Pokot and Elgeyo Marakwet counties as hideout spots for bandits.

“The status of security in Samburu since the deployment of the military to assist the police has improved tremendously from what was the case before the operation was declared. We identified certain parts of Samburu and the other counties which were being used to hold bandits,” Prof Kindiki told parliamentarians.

“Our presence will remain permanent even after we call off the operation, we will not withdraw the presence of security officers. They will dominate those areas and make it impossible for bandits to retreat,” he said.

Describing the operation as a success, the security chief told Senate his ministry is making sure the bandits never get to access the caves, ravines, and gorges they used to host their families and plan attacks again.

“The operation, in our view, is a success. There are still gaps, and we are going to seal those gaps. We will stay there for as long as it takes. We are on course, and we will win the war,” he vowed.

In March, the government declared banditry a national emergency and ordered residents of several bandit-prone areas in the four counties to vacate and pave the way for an operation to flush out the culprits.

This followed President William Ruto’s order of a joint Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and National Police Service (NPS) security operation in the cattle rustling-prone counties.