Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya offered President William Ruto a solution to completely do away with bandit attacks that have rocked West Pokot County.
Speaking on Sunday, February 12, during an interdenominational Church service at the Nakuru Athletic Club Grounds, Nakuru County, the governor challenged the head of state to closely work with the locals to restore order in the banditry-prone region.
According to the first-time governor who worked as the Rift Valley Regional Commissioner prior to his election in the August 2022 poll, deploying the military to West Pokot would not solve the banditry problem.
“I beseech you to talk to the locals in these regions and you will get to the bottom of the banditry problem,” Natembeya offered.
“In the issue of security, I was the Rift Valley Regional Commissioner(RRC) and I fought the issue a lot. There are things you will never be told, President”, the governor revealed.
The governor, none of the officers deployed in West Pokot and who were killed by the bandits is given an allowance by the government for their work.
“The salary an officer in Kapedo gets is the same an officer standing here in Ngata in traffic is getting. There is no incentive whatever,” Natembeya indicated.
Furthermore, the former Commissioner noted that the officers lack motivation as they are paid the same salaries as their counterparts in other regions that are not prone to insecurity.
He further noted that for the police to get food, they enter into an unholy alliance with bandits and give bullets where they get a goat in return for food.
“The things that happened in Laikipia conservancy made me resolve to leave my job because you would tell someone these are the coordinates, the bandits are this side then they bomb the opposite side because the owners of the livestock are the same people we sit with on the table to plan strategies on how to finish the bandits,” he noted.
This comes as the government began road construction in West-Pokot County to curb the increased rate of insecurity.
Speaking to the media, the contractor announced that the lack of impassible roads had led to a high rate of insecurity as it made it impossible to access bandits’ hideouts.
Upon completion, the new roads would connect Kamologon, Chepkorkor, Kapyego, Embugut and Pokot South Constituencies.
“Poor terrain has been the main cause of insecurity as it hides access to criminal hideouts. The region in this area has suffered an increase in banditry.
This will be the first road to help fight insecurity. It will be the first security road as it helps residents easily access markets as they have been using impassible roads,” the contractor announced.
Ruto also revealed that he had issued instructions to Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki to relocate from his Nairobi-based office and reside in the North Rift region in a bid to solve the area’s insecurity crisis.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE