• Kindiki said security teams in the KDF-backed operation ihave taken over most of the areas formerly inhabited by residents and used as launch pads for deadly attacks.
• He said the gorges, caves and escarpments used by the bandits had now been cleared by the police and KDF.
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
Bandits have fled their hideouts in Kerio Valley and Interior CS Kiture Kindike and Elgeyo Marakwet Governor Wesley Rotich have expressed hope for better and safer lives for residents.
Kindiki said security teams in the KDF-backed operation in the region have taken over most of the areas formerly inhabited by residents and used as launch pads for deadly attacks.
“The bandits have fled completely and we are the ones now in those areas where they used to hide. We are there to stay because our people must now enjoy full peace,” Kindiki said.
He said the gorges, caves and escarpments used by the bandits had now been cleared by the police and KDF officers working together to restore security in the five counties declared as disturbed.
He spoke during an extensive tour of parts of Baringo and Elgeyo Marakwet to assess the security situation.
Kindiki and Rotich addressed a security meeting at Kolowa and Tiaty in Baringo.
A security camp has been set up at Kolowa in Elgeyo Marakwet with more than 400 security officers stationed there to aid the operation.
The CS said with the restoration of security the government would also initiate development projects to benefit communities which had suffered many years of underdevelopment.
Governor Rotich hailed CS Kindiki for what he termed as humbling himself to listen to residents' views during several outdoor meetings.
“We have not had another CS who came down and sat under a tree with our people to listen to their views,” Rotich said. He said the CS had been listening to residents on how to combat banditry in the Valley.
“We have asked the CS to assist in opening boarding schools in Tiaty to improve literacy , open up of security roads and also build a military camp along the Kerio River,” Rotich said.
He said the CS had confirmed that a KDF camp at Todo in the area would be permanent. Rotich called for sustainable development projects for communities.
“We must put in place interventions for sustainability and this can include the revival of the Tot/ Kolowo irrigation schemes so the people in the area can venture into agriculture,” Rotich said.
He also called for establishment of new military camps in Ngoron and Loiywat in Tiaty and relocation of Anti-Stock Theft Units and GSU camps along the Kerio Valley.
“My administration will now distribute seeds to farmers so that they can go back to food production,”Rotich said.
Kindiki said the national government would help the county with machinery to open up more roads in the region.
(Edited by V. Graham)