Kindiki calls for strategic review in Northern Kenya's anti-banditry operation

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki on Tuesday urged Security agencies involved in Operation Maliza Uhalifu to periodically change tact in the banditry fight in Northern Kenya.

He advised security personnel to employ tactical intervention to suppress the persistent insecurity in the region even as he revealed that the Government will roll out new measures next week.

The CS toured Samburu County where tension remains high following the killing of Angata Nanyekie MCA Paul Leshimpiro by suspected bandits on Sunday.

The killing of the MCA sparked protests with hundreds of Maralal residents led by the MAA community political leaders holding peaceful demonstrations.

The leaders included; Samburu Governor Jonathan Lati Lelelit, Narok Governor Patrick Ole Ntutu, Kajiado Governor Joseph Ole Lenku and local Members of the Parliament.

The protestors petitioned President William Ruto through Samburu County Commissioner Onesmus Kyatha and called for the need to revise the strategy used in the ongoing security operation.

In response, Kindiki who held a routine operation review with Samburu County Security agency heads and Operation Maliza Uhalifu field commanders along the Malaso Valley at Maralal, said the fight against cattle rustlers and bandits in Northern Kenya requires unyielding focus and determination.

"Kenya's security agencies, local communities, and all interlocutors in the peace must stay the course, periodically amend the strategic and tactical intervention for suppression of this persistent vice," Kindiki said.

MARALAL, SAMBURU COUNTY
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Like other forms of organised crime, the fight against livestock rustlers and violent bandits in Northern Kenya requires unyielding focus and determination.

Kenya's security agencies, local communities, and all interlocutors… pic.twitter.com/GvrRhMVa1y

— Kithure Kindiki (@KindikiKithure) February 27, 2024

He noted that a year after the government deployed security personnel to defeat what he termed was a decades-old organized crime against the people of Kenya, the time has come to change the operation intervention to seal the remaining gaps in the troubled Northern Kenya.

He revealed that the government will announce new security measures to address pockets of insecurity within the Northern Kenya region.

Due to the persistent banditry and cattle rustling in the Samburu, West Pokot, Baringo and Turkana, the government launched a security operation dubbed Operation Maliza Uhalifu in February 2023 that involved multi-agency forces to end the vice.

In December, Kindiki announced 70 per cent success in the operation which he said restored peace and calm before extending the operation to Isiolo, Marsabit and Meru North.

However, killings and cattle rustling continue to be reported in the region.