NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 13-Armed police officers were deployed to classrooms as schools reopened in the troubled Laikipia on Monday.
Police officers were seen escorting learners and teachers to school as others stood guard in classrooms and around the compound to keep away bandits who have rendered the area insecurity for weeks.
Armed police officers providing security to learners in Ol Moran region of Laikipia on September 13, 2021 when schools re-opened after weeks of intense banditry attacks. /NPS.
Shops and other businesses have also resumed normalcy amid tension as heavy security deployments hunting down cattle rustlers who have caused mayhem in the region since last month, torching schools and stealing catte. At least 8 people were killed and dozens displaced before the government imposed a dusk to dawn curfew that started last week.
“We will not sit and watch people getting displaced from their home in modern times,” Matiangi warned during a recent visit there.
Two politicians-former Laikipia MP Mathew Lempurkel and Tiaty MP William Kamket were arrested and taken to court last week for incitement.
Inspector General of police Hilary Mutyambai has warned that no political meetings will be allowed in Laikipia Nature Conservancy which was designated as a security zone.
A police car with armed officers parked inside a school compound on September 13, 2021 to provide security in Ol Moran area of Laikipia following banditry attacks. /NPS.
In a statement the IG said the security situation in Laikipia is still delicate after the skirmishes experienced there since last month, leading to deaths, lost of property and displacements of hundreds.
“That security zoned area in Laikipia remains a no go zone,” Mutyambai said, “there will be no political meeting there by any
Personnel from Border Patrol Unit of Administration Police Service, who have been operating in northern part of the country fighting al-shabaab terrorists, joined the other teams already on the ground and pushed away herders still on the affected ranches.
Matiangi has ordered more deployment to the region and gazetted the creation of a new administrative sub county in Ol Moran area and named it Kirima to tackle insecurity in the area.
Matiangi further re-assured the affected families of the government’s support in helping them re-build their livelihoods back.
He has already set up a new police station there and deployed dozens of police officers to restore peace.
“We are not going to tolerate anyone this time round. We will beat you up . These jokes where politicians mess around with the lives of our people is unacceptable and we will not allow it anymore. We will beat them,” he warned during a visit to the region where he was accompanied by Mutyambai and other security chiefs.
While assuring the residents in the troubled region of their safety, Matiangi stressed that the government will not sit and watch as bandits displace residents.
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