NAIROBI, Kenya Sept 9 -The Council of Governors are pushing for the deployment of the Kenya Defence Forces to spearhead the on-going security operation against bandits in Laikipia.
Speaking during the Council’s weekly address on Thursday, Embu Governor Martin Wambora said the deployment should be inconsistent with Article 241(3) of the Constitution which allows the military to be deployed locally to assist and co-operate with other authorities in order to restore peace in any part of Kenya affected by unrest or instability.
“In view of the foregoing, the Council of Governors is proposing the National Government to engage the military personnel to reinforce the Kenya Police who are already on the ground.”
“We are also proposing the National Government establish a comprehensive mechanism for disarmament and collaborate with Laikipia County Government, the other six County Governments and the communities within the Suguta Valley Triangle in order to get a long-term solution,” the Chairperson of the Council of Governors (CoG) explained.
Wambora who served as a District Commissioner in Baringo and Laikipia in 1980s recounted similar events that led to former President Daniel arap Moi administration sending the military to Baringo to quash cases of banditary in 1984.
CoG Boss has further advised that the military action should be tempered with dialogue efforts involving communities living in the cattle rustling prone Suguta Valley.
“The magnitude of the current crisis can be better understood when we focus on the frequency of the deadly armed bandits attacks. We are not going back to the 1980s within the epicentre of the conflicts known as the Siguta Valley Triangle consisting of broader areas of 7 counties namely Laikipia, Samburu, Baringo, Isiolo, Marsabit, West Pokot and Turkana,” Wambora stated.
Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya on Wednesday stated that eight people, among them three police officers, have been killed in the month-long Laikipia West insecurity.
Four civilians and two officers are nursing injuries as the Government raised concerns over the supply of weapons to morans and suspected bandits, claiming that they are being facilitated.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i on Monday, September 6, declared a dusk to dawn curfew in Laikipia North and Laikipia West and affected areas and directed anyone who has illegally moved their livestock into the conflict zone, including politicians, to remove them within the next 48 hours.
Tension continues in Miteta, Mirando, Wangwaci, and Ol Moran areas with residents fleeing the region to the nearby Sipili and Ol Moran trading centers.
The insecurity has led to the indefinite closure of schools.
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