Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki on Wednesday, April 26, revealed how bandits caught security officers off-guard during an operation in the North Rift Region.
While appearing before the Senate, the Cabinet Secretary revealed that his Ministry had partly miscalculated when issuing vacate orders in 27 bandit-prone areas in the embattled region.
The CS made the vacate order on Sunday, March 12, giving a 24-hour notice for civilians to vacate regions the government suspected were harbouring bandits.
“We gave the notice after getting intelligence that there were wives and children of the bandits holed up in those caves.
“When we gave the notice, we did not expect the bandits to escape as they had proven themselves to be stubborn,” the CS revealed how the government underrated the bandits.
Kindiki revealed that the vacate order was intended for the general public but the bandits saw it as a loophole.
“Criminals took the 24-hour notice to mix with the civilians and escape from the valleys, caves and gorges that they were hiding in.
“All the places that were being used as hideouts for bandits, we have moved in and made sure that they have been dominated by security officers,” Kindiki explained.
Kindiki further outlined the assignment of security officers in North Rift Valley where banditry had become a menace was to bar the aggressors from taking over the region.
“We will make sure the bandits never return to those places. Even after the end of this operation, the security forces will stay there,” the CS stated.
“We are working hard to extinguish the existing threats. We are going to seal the gaps and we will stay there as long as it takes,” he added.
The CS, however, appeared to be unsure of when the government would completely end banditry and cattle rustling.
“I want to assure the people of Kenya that we will defeat bandits. I do not know how long it will take but we will defeat them,” he vowed.
President William Ruto on Monday, February 13, had ordered a joint Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and police security operation in all bandit-prone areas in an effort to deal with the problem once and for all.
After the joint operation failed to bring instant success, Kindiki ordered civilians to vacate 27 regions in Turkana, Elgeyo Marakwet, Laikipia, Samburu and West Pokot Counties.
"We are taking this war to their hideouts by land and air, with all our weight and might and with all the strength that God has given us to effectively defeat this lamentable catalogue of crimes against humanity. We shall never surrender our Country to criminals,” the CS stated while making the 24-hour vacate order.
