Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has ordered residents living in 27 areas to leave within the next 24 hours in order to give space for a security operation meant to flush out bandits. The affected areas are in Baringo, Laikipia, Samburu, West Pokot, and Turkana counties.
“Criminals have made these areas their paradise from where they plan their attacks. After killing people, taking their livestock and instilling grave fear on their victims, the thugs retreat to these spaces from where they plan their next orgy of violence even as they spy on the daily activities of communities and security officers,” said the CS.
“I declare these areas as scenes of crime, and we will treat any person found therein as a suspect of armed banditry, or as a suspect of aiding and abetting banditry, or as an accessory after the fact. Everyone must evacuate immediately,” he said.
The affected areas in Baringo include Korkoron Hills, Tandare Valley and Silale Gorges. Those in Laikipia include Mukogodo Forest, Kamwenje, Warero and Ndonyoriwo, Lekuruki Hills, Losos, and Kiape Caves, and Sieku Valley.
Affected areas in Samburu include Ltungai Conservancy, Longewan, Nasuur, Lochokia and Lekadaar Escarpments; Lolmolok Caves, Pura Valley, Malaso Escarpment and Suguta Valley.
And finally, those in Kapelbok, Nakwamoru, Lebokat, Ombollion, Nadome, and Kamur caves in Turkana County; the Turkwell Escarpment at the interface of West Pokot and Turkana Counties are to evacuate.
Kindiki accordingly emphasized that the new measures aim to decisively deal with the bandits who persist in causing the deaths of innocent lives and loss of property.
“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 catalog of crimes against humanity,” he said.
