The Turkana Council of Elders and Isiolo County Security team have recovered all goats and sheep that were stolen from Meru County last week.
Isiolo County Commissioner Herman Shambi announced the recovery Wednesday, while receiving a rifle with one bullet that was surrendered to the security team by residents of Ngaremara Ward.
Mr. Shambi said all the 111 goats and sheep which were stolen from Muthaara Ward, Tigania East, Meru County by rustlers believed to be from Isiolo last week have been recovered.
Speaking to KNA in his office, Mr. Shambi said that the security operation which is underway in Ngaremara Ward in Isiolo would continue until all illegal firearms in wrong hands were returned to the government security agencies.
The County Commissioner said that although local elders had tried their level best and recovered 13 rifles, more firearms are still in wrong hands making it difficult to halt the operation.
He added that the illegal firearms owned by herders had made the area lag-behind in development for a long time since they are the root cause of community conflicts which led to loss of lives and property of innocent people.
The County Commissioner also challenged political leaders to stop blaming the government for the ongoing security operations saying they should instead encourage their people to hand over illegal guns and expose crime suspects in the community.
Shambi said the operation in Daaba would continue and no excessive force had been used as politicians and some members of the community claimed. “Political leaders should ask wananchi to return all illegal firearms since only security agencies have the right to keep them in order to protect citizens and their properties,” he added.
Isiolo County Police Commander Joseph Kigen said that all firearms recovered would be taken for ballistic investigation to determine whether they were used to attack police officers two weeks ago.
Mr. Kigen denied that police used force during the operation and urged the complainants to record statements with police for appropriate action to be taken.
Speaking during the occasion, Ngaremara MCA Ekuam Teru said that his community has agreed to cooperate with the government to recover stolen livestock and return firearms in herders’ hands.
Mr. Teru urged his Turkana community to support the government by voluntarily flashing out criminals and giving vital information about their whereabouts.
By Abduba Mamo
