How I will end banditry, cattle rustling in North Rift - Police IG nominee Kanja

Inspector General of Police nominee Douglas Kanja has proposed tracking of animals as an approach to tackle cattle rustling in the North Rift.

During his vetting at County Hall chambers, the long-serving officer stated that present-day cattle rustling has become so commercialised that recovering stolen livestock is extremely impossible.

"If I'm approved by parliament and appointed to the position of IG, the first thing I'd like to do is work very closely with other stakeholders in that field because this is an area that requires a multi-pronged approach. The police alone cannot do it, everybody is required to get on board including the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development so that now, we can leverage technology so that if some animals are stolen and brought to Nairobi, for sale we can track them and punish the criminals as guided by the constitution," he said.

At the same time, he said he would be seeking more budgetary allocation to assist the ongoing Operation Maliza Uhalifu North Rift meet its operational challenges.

The operation was launched at the beginning of last year following a resolve by the government to end cattle rustling, banditry and constant inter-communal conflicts in the region.

Kanja added that if approved and appointed IG, he would like to leverage having additional National Police Reservists in areas where the police are thinly deployed.

"NPRs are the local people and they understand the terrain. Local people have their way of life so I'll work very closely with the people and the leadership of these areas to ensure that what is agreed upon is implemented because I know we have local solutions that can be incorporated and assist the national government in sorting out the issues of cattle rustling," Kanja said.

A new report examining the state of security in the six counties covered by the operation revealed that it has not achieved significant success as certain areas within the targeted regions have continued to experience recurrent and sporadic attacks leading to loss of lives and destruction of property.

He said his vast knowledge of what is ailing the region that stems from his years of survival in North Rift gives him an upper hand in helping solve the banditry and cattle rustling menace.

That notwithstanding, he added that the operation needs much more support from the government to meet its goals.

"We have got a very serious deployment in those areas, we are grateful that we have received back the air support services of the NPS, they are with us now, so we are better although we still require a lot of support in terms of budgetary allocation and I will still be coming back to this committee for this because that way we can do what we are supposed to do to ensure that that menace is completely done away with," he said.

The operation was budgeted to receive a total of Sh4 billion to meet its mandate, but so far, it has received only a fraction of the amount.

The IG nominee said his approaches will involve a lot of teamwork with other stakeholders deployed in the region including the military and National Intelligence officials deployed there to bring the menace to a complete end.

"This is an area that I will be going back to from time to time to ensure that the forces on the ground are doing what they are supposed to do, to ensure that the children in these areas go back to schools, that the mothers and fathers do what they are supposed to be doing from morning to the next morning without looking over their shoulders over insecurity. This is an area that I am going to take charge of," he added.