The government has started fresh recruitment and training of the National Police Reservists to be deployed in Kerio Valley and other parts affected by banditry.
The first batch of 40 reservists has already been trained and deployed along the border between Elgeyo Marakwet and Baringo counties.
At least 1,000 NPRs will be recruited and trained in the first phase of the exercise then stationed in about 10 counties, mostly in Rift Valley, affected by the cattle rustling.
“We welcome the fresh recruitment of reservists because they will work with the public to improve security in the region,” Elgeyo Marakwet deputy governor Wisley Kiptoo said in Iten yesterday.
On Tuesday Rift Valley police commander Edward Mwamburi said the NPRs will work closely with the police.
“The NPRs will be more of mediators and they will better understand their work under our new approach,” Mwamburi said.
Political leaders from the Kerio Valley region led by Senator Kipchumba Murkomen had last month faulted the government after it disarmed all police reservists in the region.
Interior CS Fred Matiang'i said the process was aimed at overhauling the service and registering key details of gun holders.
Rift Valley regional commissioner George Natembea said they would work with all local leaders and communities but warned that politicians who finance and arm bandits in Kerio Valley will be arrested.
He said some of the people involved in financing bandits and feeding them are well known to the public.
“Some of them are masquerading as leaders yet they are criminals. They should not fool themselves that they can engage in crime and think that they will not be known," Natembea said
The administrator, toured Elgeyo Marakwet last week, said banditry has caused too much suffering to residents and that the perpetrators' days are numbered.
“We will arrest them publicly and show to the world who such leaders are. We will not allow them to aid bandits to terrorise people," Natembea said.
During his visit, Natembea held a meeting with county leaders and security chiefs on how to tackle runaway banditry in Kerio Valley, especially along the border between Marakwet and West Pokot counties.
Natembea blamed chiefs in Marakwet East for the increased cases of banditry.
“Chiefs must know their areas. It’s not possible that they know all women who get impregnated in the villages but fail to know bandits roaming the same villages," he said.
He told the chiefs to help the government to end banditry once and for all.
“Time for bandits to joke around with the government by terrorising residents is over. We won't give them breathing space," he said.
He said it is not proper for some individuals to give residents sleepless nights.
“We will even bomb the caves to ensure that banditry is a thing of the past in this region," Natembea said.
(edited by O. Owino)
