Over 200 students from Kipcherere Secondary School in Baringo County have refused to go home after bandits attacked their villages.
According to their school principal Samuel Maiyo, the students begged to stay at the institution stating they feared for their safety.
This was despite the bandits burning another school in the area where they stole property including water tanks.
“Students are asking to remain in school with parents also asking not to release the students as they are displaced,” the principal told the press.
The idea of letting the students stay at the school was also supported by area politicians who remarked it was easier to provide security from a central place.
Baringo North Member of Parliament Joseph Makilap directed teachers from his constituency not to send home students whose parents had been displaced.
He remarked that as authorities continued to assess the situation, students should be hosted within academic institutions.
“We need a program to have people in one place we give them tents and aid in one place,” Baringo South MP Charles Kamuren added.
Security officers in the region speaking on the rise of banditry attacks noted that over 2,000 residents had been displaced from their homes.
The attacks come at a time when the National Police Service (NPS) revealed that they had eliminated three notorious bandits from North Rift.
On March 30, President William Ruto received a security brief from the Ministry of Interior led by Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki over combating crime in North Rift.
After the meeting, the President noted that recent incidents of cattle rustling and banditry were being handled differently, using new tactical measures.
