Hundreds of residents continue to flee their homes for safety due to an increased series of banditry attacks in the troubled Olmoran and Laikipia Nature Conservancy.
The government intensified security and imposed a dusk to dawn curfew to flush out bandits in the troubled area but it has done little to stop the attacks.
The bandits are properly armed and have a steady supply of firearms something which police are yet to establish where they are getting them from.
Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya said the bandits are far more equipped than police as they are armed with M-16 rifles.
“The guns that these bandits are using are mighty. They are called M16. Most of them are only used by foreign troops who come to train in Kenya,” Natembeya told journalists.
An M16 rifle, used by the military only, is a 223 calibre (5.56 millimetre) gas-operated magazine-fed rifle for semiautomatic or automatic operation.
“How such a powerful rifle got into their hands is a puzzle that should be investigated,” Natembeya added.
Laikipia County Commissioner Daniel Nyameti said the bandits comprises of Pokot and some Samburu who sought refuge in Laikipia Nature conservancy after the crackdown to restore peace in Kapedo area of Baringo County.
Laikipia banditry attacks has basically pitted pastoral communities against farmer and sedentary communities.
Nyameti said security agencies have established that the bandits are causing havoc with the intention of making residents flee their farms so that they get grazing fields.
He added that the bandits claim that farms in Olmoran area belong to their ancestors hence the bid to repossess them by force.
“From the intelligence, we have gathered that they have entered into an agreement (bandits) to cause chaos to locals doing farming so that they can have a leeway on grazing in people’s farms,” Nyameti revealed.
“We cannot allow criminals to continue terrorizing innocent residents. We know their motive is to evict people from this area and the government will not allow this to happen,” Rift Valley Regional Commissioner Natembeya said.
Laikipia is a cosmopolitan country, some of the farmer and sedentary communities greatly affected by the banditry attacks include Kikuyus and Kisiis who bought large parcels of land in the troubled areas.
South Mugirango MP Sylvanus Osoro has raised concerns over the killings of Kisiis in Laikipia County calling on Interior CS Fred Matiang’i to deploy more security officers.
“The rate at which our people are being attacked and killed at ‘KISII NDOGO’ in Laikipia is SHOCKING and WORRYING. Something URGENT needs to be done.URGENCY shouldn’t only be applied on FIGHTING William Ruto.In anycase,please DEPLOY the GSU officers withdrawn from Karen to Laikipia or better still,withdraw all the V.I.P officers wasaidie watu kule Laikipia..Security matters should not be limited to attacking WSR,arresting ‘unmasked’ hustlers and killing people while enforcing ‘curfew’ rules.. ENDENI LAIKIPIA. STOP PLAYING POLITICS WITH SECURITY…” Osoro wrote.
Related: Thousands Of Hectares Of Land Ruto Owns in Laikipia And Other Places Revealed In Parliament
