@Waithaka06
Three National Police Reservists attached to Sossian Ranch in Laikipia North are recuperating at Unison hospital in Rumuruti after being shot by bandits on Tuesday.
William Lodopua, Simon Mwangi and John Ekam were riding on a motorcycle from a nearby trading center in the evening when they were ambushed.
“We had gone to do some shopping when we spotted stones barricading the road. My instinct told me all was not well and before we acted, we heard gun shots” Lodopua said.
The security supervisor at the ranch said about three guns fired from the left and two from the right, adding that the bandits were targeting to snatch the reservists’ weapons.
Lodopua who sat at the back of the motorcycle said he managed to return fire which allowed them to flee.
Mwangi, the other victim, sustained buttock injuries from the gun shots.
Simon Etren, the in charge of National Police Reservists in Laikipia West and a security manager at the ranch noted that the bandits are changing tact and are now targeting armed security agents.
Etren said the NPR should be increased and empowered to secure the troubled areas, adding that about nine of them have been injured so far by armed bandits.
Mary Nduta, Mwangi's mother and a resident of Ol Moran said many people suffer unknown diseases owing to the constant sound of gun shots.
“I came to Ol Moran at age 7 and now I am a grandmother, no single day goes by without gun sounds. Even with the presence of heavily armed police officers nothing much is being done. The government should relocate us if it is not able to protect us,” Nduta said.
Sossian ward MCA Jacob Edom said the government should issue an order to kill the bandits’ terrorising residents, adding that the presence of police officers said to be conducting operations is not helping.
“There is no security operation going on in Ol Moran. Police officers are telling us that they have no authority. How are they then helping the community?” Edom said.
He said apart from the NPR employed by the ranches, the rest are volunteers who rarely get stipend and are now the target of the banditry attacks.
On Thursday, Laikipia county commissioner Joseph Kanyiri said some suspects were arrested on Wednesday and were being processed for court.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
