3,000 guns withdrwan from police reservists in North Rift

More than 3,000 firearms have been withdrawn from national police reservists in the North Rift in the war on banditry.

The reservists handed back the guns at police stations Elgeyo Marakwet, Baringo, West Pokot, Turkana and Samburu where they had been deployed.

The government is planning fresh recruitment amid renewed bandit attacks along the border of West Pokot and Elgeyo Marakwet.

A team led by Rift Valley regional commissioner Mwongo Chimwanga visited the Kerio Valley n Friday to assess the security situation following increased attacks that have claimed the lives of more than 30 people in three months.

“Some of the NPRs have been misusing the firearms to engage in banditry and other criminal activities. The government will relook at the whole process of hiring and arming them to strengthen security,” Chimwanga said.

The withdrawal of the reservists have angered residents including Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen. They want the government to hasten the recruitment process.

“Without police reservists, our people will be exposed to greater security risks because we do not have adequate police officers in the region,” Murkomen said.

Chimwanga said the previous hiring and training of the police reservists had been hurriedly done and that most of the officers were not doing what was expected of them.

More than 700 people living along the Elgeyo Marakwet-West Pokot border have fled their homes after bandits shot dead three people in the Kerio Valley last week. 

Those killed included a GSU officer. The latest killings pushed to seven the number of those killed in the last two weeks.

Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos said the situation was critical and urged Interior CS Fred Matiang' i to quickly restore peace. 

“We wonder what we have to do to get Matiang'i to act. Residents are suffering and there's no development. Displaced families need food aid," Tolgos said.

Seven schools, including Kapyego primary and secondary, have been shut because of violence. Thirteen others have been deserted.

“In many areas, people can't engage in development activities for fear of attacks,"  Tolgos said. 

The governor said he was in talks with his West Pokot counterpart John Lonyangapuo and Baringo's Stanley Kiptis for a joint peace meeting along the border.

“People are being killed like rats every day while our pleas to Matiang' i and top security officers are being ignored,” Tolgos said.

Edited by peter Obuya