The rift valley regional commissioner Dr. Abdi Hassan has warned that the government will not hesitate to take stern action against criminals who were attacking and killing security officers on duty.
The RC said while insecurity cases had drastically reduced as a result of efforts by both government and wananchi, there were disturbing cases of criminals killing police officers especially in the Marakwet region.
Speaking in Iten, Dr. Hassan said the government had deployed police officers in the area to maintain peace so that residents can go about their daily activities and said it was sad that the criminals were turning against the officers.
He therefore called on police officers to apply what they were trained to do saying they should not take chances when attacked by armed criminals.
“If an officer is armed and is confronted by an armed criminal, then according to their training, they know what they should do,” he said.
In the recent past two police officers, one in Mogil and another in Arror were killed by criminals while in another incident a police vehicle was burnt.
Hassan called on the area residents to discard practices that do not add any value to their lives saying in the current era, people fight intellectually and not physically.
The RC appealed to wananchi to support the officers in their work of ending banditry in the region so that they can engage in development activities saying the area was well endowed agriculturally not only to feed themselves but the rest of the country.
He warned the criminals that the government would nab them saying while it may seem to be slow it was sure that it will get them whatever it takes.
He said the government will hunt them even if they hide in caves and flush them out and deal with them accordingly.
By Alice Wanjiru
