• Kindiki named 27-bandit-prone areas where he directed residents to relocate as the government was to upscale the security operation against banditry.
•The attacks have claimed the lives of 135 civilians and 20 police officers in seven month.s
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
Tension and fear gripped villages in Baringo and West Pokot after Interior CS Kithure Kindiki announced the start of the second phase of the KDF-backed security operation in the North Rift.
It will start Monday.
Kindiki named 27 bandit-prone areas where he directed residents to vacate as the government upscales the security operation against banditry.
It has claimed the lives of 135 civilians and 20 police officers in seven months.
One more person was shot dead in Kerio Valley after bandits raided Karel village in Mon location in Marakwet East, Elgeyo Marakwet county.
The victim died at the Moi Referral Hospital where he had been rushed for while a police reservist who was injured in the attack was undergoing treatment at the same hospital.
Residents and relatives led by Daniel Lore and Winnie Kanda identified the deceased as Elisha Kimutai, popularly known as Mudang. He was an Egerton University graduate. The bandits took off with more than 100 head of livestock.
Kanda said more than 200 heavily armed bandits had
attacked the village and sprayed the victims with bullets. She said they were angry with Kindiki for trying to tame banditry and giving frequent false promises.
"Kindiki is using media to issue threats which don't work. We are losing our people every other day and we should be told if we have to protect ourselves," Kanda said.
She said six people were in morgues in the area killed by bandits.
"We have lost our mothers, fathers, children and professionals but the government is doing nothing but cheating about an ongoing operation," Kanda said.
But the CS in his statement on Sunday ordered residents living in 27 banditry-prone regions to vacate or else be dealt with as bandits in the upscaled operation starting on Monday.
The CS said they decided to heighten the security operation against bandits and new measures would be applied.
“The new measures are set to inflict maximum pain on criminals and neutralise the banditry menace that has already been declared a national emergency," the CS said.
Move or you'll be treated like a dangerous outlaw
Kindiki warned any person found in those areas from Monday, March 13, “will be treated as a suspect of armed banditry, as a suspect aiding and abetting banditry or as an accessory after the fact",.
Areas residents have been ordered to vacate include Korkoron Hills, Tandare Valley and Silale Gorges in Baringo county, Mukogodo Forest; Kamwenje, Warero and Ndonyoriwo; Lekuruki Hills, Losos and Kiape Caves and Sieku Valley in Laikipia county.
Areas of Ltungai Conservancy, Longewan, Nasuur, Lochokia and Lekadaar Escarpments; Lolmolok Caves, Pura Valley, Malaso Escarpment and Suguta Valley in Samburu county have also been declared as scenes of crime.
In Turkana county, residents in Kapelbok, Nakwamoru, Lebokat, Ombollion, Nadome and Kamur caves are to vacate as well as those from the Turkwell Escarpment at the interface of West Pokot and Turkana counties.
Kindiki warned that any person found in those areas from Monday, March 13, “will be treated as a suspect of armed banditry, as a suspect aiding and abetting banditry or as an accessory after the fact".
øn Sunday, residents expressed fear the security teams would bomb the areas named to force out the bandits.
Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Wesley Rotich said they were tired of banditry and tough action by the government was welcome.
(Edited by V. Graham)