President William Ruto’s directive on deployment of Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) to bandits-prone areas attracted sharp criticism from the former Sports Chief Administrative Secretary ( CAS), Zack Kinuthia.
In a statement dated Tuesday, February 14, Kinuthia warned the president against the move stating that it would lead to the mass killing of innocent lives.
He further noted that the leaders who advised him to use the military in fighting bandits would later turn against him after blending with the bandits.
“Those leaders will cry foul that you have killed their children, their men, and their youth. They will turn against you because you have decided to dilly-dally with the cause and misdiagnose the problem," Kinuthia wrote on his Facebook page.
"Just because you have chosen the safer path, they will ambush you in the no-retreat zone, where you won't unchain yourself,” he further warned.
Kinuthia noted that the military would succeed at an expense of a long future detrimental effect on the Pokot and Turkana communities and that Ruto seems to have made a grave mistake just like the former president Uhuru Kenyatta.
Revisiting the past, the ex-CAS explained how the former late presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Mwai Kibaki were given the same advisory but failed to implement it since they understood the consequences.
“Your people will die. They will be annihilated. In an operation where the Military is involved, there is no failure, whatever the cost.
Since you have let the military tackle what politics should have tackled, you will win the battle definitely but you've lost the war,” he uttered.
In addition, he explained that the leaders justified the deployment of the military using the wrong a example of Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) and how President Kibaki unleashed the military to end the insurgency.
Speaking to local leaders at the Nakuru State Lodge, on Monday, February, 14, Ruto ordered a joint KDF and police security operation in all bandit-prone areas beginning Tuesday, February 14.
Consequently, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki on Monday, February 13, declared 6 counties dangerous and disturbed and gave bandits three days to surrender illegal firearms.
Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya offered Ruto a solution to completely do away with bandit attacks, having served as Rift Valley Regional Coordinator during retired President Uhuru Kenyatta's reign.
He noted that deploying the military to West Pokot would not solve the banditry problem.
