MANDERA police boss Job Boronjo yesterday rejected media reports that quarry workers were arrested and prosecuted for defying orders to leave the county.
He said those arrested had ignored an order issued by the national government not to sleep at the quarry at night for their own safety.
The police boss said quarry workers had been told not to report until 7am and to vacate by 5pm.
“It is wrong for the media to create a false impression that Mandera is so unsafe that some workers are being arrested and arraigned in court for refusing to quit the county,” Boronjo said.
He termed the reports malicious “when we are pleading with teachers to return and assuring them that safety has been restored”.
Police arrested and charged 20 quarry workers for defying the order not to stay at the quarry beyond 5pm at Mandera law courts.
The 20 were fined Sh60,000 or five months’ jail.
Boronjo said a lot has been done to improve security since two terror attacks last year.
Twenty-eight people were killed in a bus attack on November 22 and 36 in a quarry attack on December 2.
