Laikipia leaders want the government to redeploy National Police Reservists.
The reservists were withdrawn in 2019 by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and more than 3,000 firearms were seized in the war on banditry in the North Rift.
This was after it emerged that some of them had been misusing the weapons by engaging in crime.
They were ordered to hand back their firearms to the police stations where they had been issued.
The government then ordered the officers to go to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations offices for biometric registration, labelling of weapons and shooting practices.
Politicians and residents have been piling pressure on the government to reinstate the NPRs, saying their withdrawal had left residents vulnerable and exposed to attacks.
“Leaders and residents have been pushing the government to end insecurity and we have been assured that NPRs will be reintroduced. It is the responsibility of the government to protect lives and property,” Laikipia Senator John Kinyua said yesterday.
Currently, only camp-based NPRs are hosted at the Kamwenje area in Laikipia county. Seventeen officers who were based at the camp had dropped out of the programme after failing to get their pay for seven months.
"The home-based NPR are better placed to combat the escalating cattle rustling, which has rendered us poor as this has created a playing ground for banditry,” Olmoran MCA George Karuiru said.
He added that they have been petitioning the government to reconsider its stand on NPR and arm the youth who used to protect the region and went after rustlers to bring back stolen livestock.
However, even as leaders and residents call for the reinstatement of the NPRs, security officials in the region noted that criminal activities have been reduced since the withdrawal.
“A drop in criminal cases in the region has been reported compared to the past two years. This means that some of the NPRs could be the main source of insecurity in the region,” said an officer.
Rift Valley regional coordinator George Natembeya on his tour of the county recently said enough officers from the Kenya Defence Forces, the General Service Units, the Anti-Stock Theft Unit, and the Rapid Deployment Units had been deployed.
"There is no other region in the country that has the highest number of security officers as we do in Laikipia,” he said.
