Cheloti Josha @CeejayCheloti
Rift Valley regional commissioner George Natembeya has affirmed the government’s commitment to addressing insecurity along Kerio Valley.
Addressing the press in Kitale town on Tuesday after holding a five-hour closed-door meeting with a Trans Nzoia security team, Natembeya said they had identified insecurity in the volatile region as a threat to peace and development.
He said the government has come up with a raft of security measures aimed at restoring law and order in areas prone to insecurity in the region.
“One of the immediate measures is deployment of enough and well-equipped security personnel to cover the areas that have been hit by frequent banditry and cattle-rustling attacks,” he said.
Kerio Valley has been facing a wave of attacks by armed bandits even in daylight resulting in loss of lives and livestock.
Surrender guns
“As a regional security team, we are going to restore the rule of law in Kerio Valley. It will be painful. We have identified that as a problem and a threat to peace and we are going to address it with firmness and singularity of mind,”said Natembeya.
The commissioner asked political leaders in the region to help ensure locals surrender illegal firearms they might be holding.
“I am asking politicians to tell their people to return illegal guns because when we start an operation to get the arms, we don’t want to hear anyone saying their people are being targeted,” he said.
