- This has also led to the displacement of more than 2,500 people hence affecting development activities, a group of legislators said Wednesday.
- The group of Members of Parliament made the revelations when they appeared before the National Assembly Committee of Cohesion.
Image: HANDOUT
At least 74 people have been killed in separate attacks by bandits in the North Rift area in the past months.
This has also led to the displacement of more than 2,500 people hence affecting development activities, a group of legislators said Wednesday.
The group of Members of Parliament made the revelations when they appeared before the National Assembly Committee of Cohesion.
The MPs told the committee at least 74 people have lost their lives in the hands of the bandits despite the heavy presence of security apparatus in the region.
"We have buried 74 people including an elected Member of the County Assembly who were killed by the bandits," said Naisula Lessuda, the Samburu West MP.
She pointed out that schools in the area have closed because of cases of insecurity.
The Samburu West MP pointed out that scores of others have been left with life-threatening injuries as she questioned the government's seriousness in fighting insecurity in the region.
Samburu North MP Letipita Eli told the Committee that 2,500 people have been displaced following unending attacks by bandits.
"Victims who were displaced are suffering and my people are living in fear," he added.
The MPs from banditry-prone areas in the Rift Valley region also faulted the government's approach to taming the vice, saying the approach may not succeed as is it outdated.
They also lamented they are not being involved in the meetings and tours by senior security personnel.
The government's approach includes arrest and summoning of elected leaders to record statements over the banditry attacks with MPs terming the move as intimidating.
The MPs said the resurgence of banditry and cattle rustling cases despite the government's investment in taming the vice was an indication that the tact was bound to fail.
"The government has decided to work on its own in the fight against banditry and cattle rustling. They are not involving leaders and the local community who understand the region better," said Kacheliba MP Titus Lotee.
The MPs were giving their views on how to permanently eliminate banditry and cattle rustling menace to the House Committee during a session chaired by Yussuf Haji at Parliament Buildings.
Haji said the committee called for the engagement with MPs from banditry-prone regions to discuss ways of ending the criminal activities because they were key stakeholders.
The 20 MPs who attended the meeting were from Laikipia, Samburu, West Pokot, Baringo, Turkana and West Pokot counties.
"The committee is concerned that despite the government investing heavily in strategies aimed at combating banditry and cattle rustling the menace is still rampant," said Yussuf.
He added that criminal activities were a threat to cohesion and peaceful existence among the communities in the region hence the need for a meeting for leaders from the area to discuss how to deal with the matter.
But the MPs poured their frustration to the committee on how the government was handling campaigns to make the region a banditry-free area.
Lotee and Daniel Nanok (Turkana West) said the government has focused on intimidating, arresting and forcing them to record statements on the matter at the expense of pursuing bandits who operated with impunity.
They also accused Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof Kithure Kindiki of sidelining them during his visits to areas hit by banditry.
"We wonder the agenda the CS has when he ignores elected leaders like us whenever he visits our constituencies for security meetings...He should involve MPs in his campaigns to fight the vice for him to make any headway," said Lotee.
Turkana East MP Nicholas Ngikor said replacing chiefs in the area had contributed to the escalating of banditry and cattle rustling activities.
The MPs however commended the committee for the peace process it has initiated and committed their support to the initiative.
The chairman commended the leaders for honouring the invitation to appear before the committee to discuss the matter adding that more similar meetings will be held to find a solution.
He added that the committee will organise a retreat for the MPs and security trams from the regions to find ways of securing the region for economic growth and cohesion among residents.
Kindiki has been leading the operations in the area vowing to end the menace.
Kindiki said cattle rustling in Northern Kenya has over the years become an organised criminal enterprise responsible for deaths, poverty and displacement.
“Its impacts are severe. It deprives pastoral communities of their economic mainstay and aggravates the conditions of poverty in the rangelands, fuelling communal grievances and revenge attacks,” he said.
To dismantle the infrastructure of cattle rustlers and facilitators, he said the government is sustaining the war on banditry and its perpetrators, enablers, benefactors and beneficiaries by making banditry a painful venture, ensuring recovery of stolen livestock and rewarding facilitators of recoveries.