Kitui county assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a motion seeking to end insecurity in Mutha ward, which borders Tana River county.
The insecurity is allegedly caused by herders invading Kitui South Game Reserve.
The motion was moved by Mutha MCA Antony John following recent attacks on residents by armed herdsmen.
The motion compels the county government to liaise with the national government to evict herdsmen from the game reserve.
John said the game reserve, which covers nearly 75 per cent of his ward, has attracted herders believed to be from the Northeastern counties of Garissa, Wajir and Mandera.
“The herdsmen invaded the game reserve in 1991 and have since been attacking our people each year causing deaths,” he said.
The motion directs the county government to work with mobile phone providers to connect the area for faster police response.
“County government should also in conjunction with the Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) de-gazette Inyali polling station in the game reserve which serves the herders", the motion says.
The motion elicited a hot debate with members especially from the wards neighbouring the volatile border calling for a lasting solution to the suffering of their people.
Other wards which have been hard-hit by the bandits include Tseikuru and Ngomeni in Mwingi North, Endau/Malalani and Voo/Kyamatu in Kitui East and Nguni in Mwingi Central.
Speaker George Ndotto directed the Committee on Implementation led by David Thuvi (Kithumula/Kwamutonga Ward) to move with speed and ensure the matters raised are implemented to end the insecurity along the Kitui- Tana River border.
“You are the people to set the ball rolling. The situation has persisted. People have died yet both county and national governments have done nothing,” the Speaker said.
Majority whip Stephen Musili called for radical measures to drive herders out of wildlife areas in Kitui.
“The county government should fence the game reserves and recruit enforcement officers who shall be supported by the police to man those areas,” the Kyuso MCA said.
Nguni Ward MCA Jefferson Kiruru said Governor Charity Ngilu's administration has done very little to address banditry along the county boundary.
He accused the national government of failing to pay allowances to the recently recruited local police reservists.
Voo Kyamatu MCA Nelson Kivali recounted how bandits invaded his ward last year and brutally mutilated a residents, prompting the setting up of a temporary police post.
MCAs Ruth Kyene (Nzambani) and Mary Ndumbu (Nominated) urged Kitui leaders to seek intervention of the national government by addressing Interior CS Fred Matiang’i.
