For decades, cattle rustling and banditry have scarred
Kenya’s North Rift, Kerio Valley, and Laikipia, leaving behind death,
displacement, and shattered economies.
Successive Interior Cabinet Secretaries responded with heavy crackdowns, but the calm was always fleeting.
Bandits would vanish during
operations only to resurface weeks later.
Since December 2024, the government has rewritten this
script.
In less than a year, it has rolled out a layered,
forward-looking strategy that blends military firmness with reform,
accountability, and community-based peacebuilding.
The results, though early, have already set it apart from
past approaches, prompting many Kenyans to view it as the most effective
strategy yet.
Breaking with the past
Unlike short-lived deployments of the past, the government
has insisted on permanence.
Semi-permanent security camps now dot hotspots in Laikipia
and the North Rift, signaling that the state will not retreat after just a few
weeks of operations.
It has also moved swiftly to reshuffle commissioners and
senior ministry staff, cutting bureaucratic bottlenecks and tightening
accountability in the chain of command.
Technology has become central to the new approach.
Intelligence-led operations backed by aerial surveillance
and night-vision tools now make it harder for bandits to regroup.
At the same time, the government has drawn a clear red line
against enablers, whether politicians, clerics, or financiers, who shield
criminal groups.
Perhaps most strikingly, several police officers were
arrested for supplying ammunition to bandits.
For years, rogue officers had operated with impunity.
Their arrest sent a powerful signal: no one, not even
members of the security forces, is above the law.
The strategy is not all force. It has been paired with
reintegration programs. scholarships, job opportunities, and affordable housing
for youths who surrender weapons.
The approach seeks to break the cycle of violence by
providing real alternatives to young men often lured into banditry.
Dozens of firearms have already been handed in, while
displaced families are beginning to trickle back home.
The Jukwaa la Usalama
Equally transformative has been the revival of Jukwaa la
Usalama forums led by Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen.
These local peace platforms bring together elders, women,
youth, administrators, and security chiefs.
These gatherings provide early warning, build trust, and
ensure communities co-own peace efforts rather than view them as directives
from Nairobi. This grassroots legitimacy may well prove to be the government’s
masterstroke.
The impact is already visible. More illegal firearms are being
surrendered, calm is returning to previously volatile zones, rogue officers are
being exposed and prosecuted, and coordination between national forces and
county teams has strengthened.
We have also seen that communities are more willing to work with the government. These gains remain fragile, but they reflect a security strategy
finally combining firmness with foresight.
Kenya has had tough Interior ministers before.
Few, however, like Murkomen, dared to pair force with
dialogue, or to reform institutions while holding enablers accountable.
The government’s
approach mirrors international best practice: counter organized crime not just
with boots on the ground, but also with community trust and socio-economic
reintegration.
By doing so, it has earned recognition as perhaps Kenya’s
most effective response to banditry so far, one that has shown insecurity can
be tackled with both power and principle.
The road ahead
Challenges persist: porous borders still supply weapons,
patronage networks remain resilient, and reintegration programs must be
properly funded. Yet the shift is undeniable.
For the first time in years, Kenya has a government strategy
that is not reactionary but truly forward-looking.
If sustained, it may finally deliver the lasting peace that
generations in the North Rift have been denied.
