Interior Cabinet Secretary, Kithure Kindiki, on Sunday, March 12, vowed to unearth politicians and security operatives feeding bandits with intel and aiding them to counter the military operation.
The former Tharaka Nithi senator, further argued that the accused persons were beneficiaries of bandit attacks. From government officials, top security officers, operatives, and spiritual leaders.
According to the CS, a toxic mix of bad terrain, weapons supply, and well-choreographed leadership sustains the outlaws under pressure to quell bandits.
“Fellow Kenyans, this is not an empty statement. We have conclusively established and zeroed in on the key suspects commanding the terror gangs in this area.
“We have engaged in meticulous intelligence gathering to establish the identity, stature, and sophistication of the network perpetuating the orgy of violence in this Northern part of our country,” mentioned the CS.
Chiefs and security officers in the troubled North Rift were accused of leaking government intelligence as a self-preservation mechanism.
Bandits reportedly carry out reconnaissance missions on villages before they attack. They then plan strategic hideouts and escape routes with the intelligence accrued.
Locals who provide crucial information to criminals were also put on notice.
Threats of violence and murder were being used against chiefs and locals who refuse to cooperate with bandits, with some paying the ultimate price.
On Friday, February 24, 2023, a chief was among three people in Ikek-Sabuki in Samburu County.
The network, Kindiki stated, perpetuated the loss of lives, livelihoods and displacement of people. He thus ordered locals to vacate targeted villages within 24 hours as more Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) officers and artillery were deployed to crush bandits.
On Monday, February 13, Trans Nzoia governor and former Rift Valley regional commissioner, George Natembeya, also pinpointed KDF and police bosses as the weakest link in the fight against bandits.
In a media interview, the governor alleged that he had the intel on government insiders facilitating bandit attacks. He claimed some were drawn from the military, police, and Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), and some were well-known politicians.
“Every strategy I implemented as regional commissioner, including disarmament, was countered," Natembeya revealed, adding that calls to a top Interior Ministry official went unanswered while KDF was lured into bombing areas far away from banditry-prone regions.
