NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 11 Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has announced that the government will invoke the use of Protected Areas Act to deal with persons vandalizing the Standard Gauge Railway(SGR) and selling its parts to scrap metal dealers.
Speaking Monday in Makueni when he presided over the operationalization of Kambu Sub-County, Kindiki equated vandalism of railway lines to an act of terrorism.
Kindiki said that the actions poses a threat to national security and has a potential to hurt the country’s economy and could result to mass casualties.
He added that the same law will be used to safeguard dams and other vital water bodies.
“The law governing critical infrastructure now is the protected areas act cap 204 of the laws of Kenya. Any person found within the vicinity of a protected facility including the railway, critical water reservoirs will be dealt with according to the protected areas act, that is the most serious and the most punitive law that guards State House,” he warned.
The Interior CS sternly warned that individuals engaged in railway vandalism and compromising national security would be dealt with decisively and impartially.
Kindiki urged security agents from various units to collaborate with the Railway Police Unit to make sure that the country’s railway is free from vandalism.
Going forward, Kindiki said that the government will not allow evil people including terrorists to take advantage of that vandalism to cause deaths to the people of Kenya.
He reiterated that the law empowers law enforcement officers to take decisive action against anyone found committing crimes within protected areas.
“Leave the railways alone, leave the critical infrastructure alone, those are national security assets they are important for the security of our nation,” he warned.
