The total breakdown of law and order in Laikipia is not only sad but also source of enormous shame.
It is a grim indictment of the abject lack of seriousness of the national security system.
How does anyone explain how a bunch of ragtag bandits with shoes fashioned out of old car tyres cause such mayhem as to be the subject of national security forum?
And to make matters even worse, it is not the first time the outlaws have caused such havoc. Schools have been shut, homes set ablaze and people maimed and killed.
All the while, the top security brains have been left scratching their heads wondering what to do.
The problem does not seem to be a dearth of ability. The dithering. The slow motion has emboldened the bloodthirsty marauders into acts of daring.
When they roam Laikipia and plan their evil schemes, where the police and their capacity for intelligence?
Instead of moving in with the type of force that sends a strong and unequivocal message that Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai takes national security seriously, we get, instead, some token arrests meant to fool the public into slumber imagining all is well.
The police have left room for social media inciters and their local political godfathers to make the type of conclusions that have nothing to do with the chaos.
The conservancies are innocent. The investors have not stopped pasture thriving nor rivers to flow. In any case, have put in large cash into the businesses and hired thousands directly and indirectly in the tourism business.
The distressed pastoralists need a clear-headed solution not incitement by the very political class salivating at the prospect of grabbing the very parcels they pretend is the source of the problem.
Mutyambai and his team must redeem their reputation. The police have been turned into laughing stock by a band of nobodies.
With an election looming what is to stop reckless politicians and their brigands from stirring conflict in every imaginable corner.?
Mutyambai, you have the men and women. The firepower to restore order and to make arrests. Act now!
