Baringo County Commissioner Abdirisack Jaldesa has ordered for the immediate reopening of 15 schools closed due to runaway insecurity in parts of Marigat Sub County to enable KCPE and KCSE candidates to prepare adequately for national examinations slated for next month.
Jaldesa, who toured the region to assess the current security situation following the brutal killings of two people on Tuesday, assured parents that enough police officers have been deployed to the learning institutions to provide round the clock security to learners and teachers.
Addressing wananchi at Arabal, Kasiela and Lamaiwe areas in company of the county security team, the CC said that it was disheartening to see schools closed and children remain at home in the insecurity prone region while their counterparts in other parts of the country concentrate in preparation of the forthcoming national exams.
“It is really devastating to see schools closed due to insecurity, yet we have security officers within the school, like Kasiela I’m ordering for the school to be opened urgently,” said the commissioner.
He asked parents not to worry about the security of their children but instead cultivate confidence in the security team already on the ground citing Kasiela Primary that has been closed yet a RDU camp is a stone throw from the institution.
According to Area Deputy County Commissioner Job Anunda, about 15 schools have so far been closed as attacks from marauding bandits continued to escalate.
The County Commissioner who is only two weeks old in the area assured area residents that the government will deploy all resources at its disposal to ensure they are protected from the heavily armed cattle rustlers who have killed many people, stolen hundreds of livestock and displaced families from homes.
The tour comes barely a week after three people among them two brothers were killed, bringing the death toll to six since the beginning of this year. Three people who sustained gun shots wounds during the Tuesday attack are recuperating at Baringo County Referral Hospital, Kabarnet.
Area MP Charles Kamuren who accompanied the security team during the tense tour urged the government to consider enlisting National Police Reservists (NPR) who are familiar with the harsh terrain and routes used by the bandits to help in the maintenance of peace and stability.
“We also need compensation for the persons who have been displaced in order for them to secure a place and live like other Kenyans,” he said.
Kamuren also called for the opening up of all-weather security roads to hasten movement of security officers when responding to attacks from the daring bandits.
The MP noted with dismay that children are not going to school due to banditry menace and not any other calamity as children in other parts of Kenya enjoying a peaceful environment continue with their studies uninterrupted.
Mochongoi MCA Kipruto Kimosop whose ward has borne the brunt of the attacks and killings asked the government to address the insecurity bedeviling the region with the seriousness it deserved.
He regretted that lives were being lost, children left orphans, and women remained widows. “We are going to cooperate with the government in making sure that the banditry is brought to a stop, we don’t want side shows,” Kimosop said.
Esther Wendot, a resident of Arabal, lamented that their lives have been turned upside down by the bandits who have also forced them to be refugees in their own land and reduced to paupers.
Wendot was displaced from her Ngelecha farm and forced to squatter at Arabal centre where there is a security camp said she was angered at how the bandits not only attacked them and stole their livestock but also killed them.
By Jebichii Chepkwony and Joshua Kibet
