There is need to fund and arm Kenya Police Reservists in areas prone to banditry to improve security, Kipchumba Murkomen has said.
The
Elgeyo Marakwet Senator paying salaries and providing the reservists with guns and ammunition will help reduce crime in most North Rift areas.
It is meaningless to recruit KPRs and given them uniforms without salaries and arms, Murkomen said in an address at Kerio Valley Secondary School in Marakwet East on
Monday
His remarks came four days after two by assailants suspected to be herders from the Marakwet community.
The Senator asked
Marakwet and Pokot residents to stop cross-border attacks and help security officers arrest suspected killers.
“We will meet as leaders from Elgeyo Marakwet, Baringo and West Pokot to resolve the insecurity challenges in our region,” he said.
Murkomen said the killing of the two Pokots, and on
March 24,
has eroded gains made in achieving peace in the North Rift.
Marakwet East MP Bowen Kangongo said the number of KPRs must be increased for police to have help in fighting crime.
Sixty two KPRs will be recruited in the constituency before the end of the year, he said, adding leaders will ensure they have resources and are motivated to fight crime.
Kangongo asked Kerio Valley residents to return 48 cows and two camels stolen during the fighting on Thursday for the sake of peace with the Pokot.
Wilson Kirop, a resident of Kaben location, asked IG Joseph Boinnet to deploy youthful police officers to the Kerio Valley.
“The officers deployed here are about to retire. You cannot expect them to pursue youthful criminals in the Kerio Valley,” he said.