Vihiga County Commissioner (CC), Felix Watakila, has asked security personnel and the National Government Administrative Officers to step-up their efforts in fighting crime in the area, warning that officers found culpable of condoning perpetrators of crime would face disciplinary action.
Speaking, Tuesday, at a Public Baraza in Emakakha in Emuhaya Sub-county, Vihiga, the CC assured that security in the County has been tightened and warned criminals that security agencies were zeroing in on them and that their days were numbered before the long arm of the law catches-up with them.
Watakila singled out Luanda and Emuhaya Sub-counties as the most notorious places dominated by crime syndicate and appealed to the public to volunteer information that would assist security agencies deal effectively with the vice.
“It is regrettable and disgraceful that some police officers were taking bribes from criminal cartel selling bang and illicit brew while protecting them from being arrested by loyal officers, things cannot go on like this, it must stop,” CC categorically warned.
He further revealed that some security officers are accused of giving out uniforms and guns to criminals to commit felony, including collecting bribes from innocent members of the public.
Watakila at the same time warned Chiefs and their Assistants against abetting crime or being compromised in the quest to fighting the runway insecurity.
He decried the rising insecurity situation in the County, calling on relevant security agencies to prosecute insecurity cases promptly as they are reported so that the perpetrators are araighned in court of law and victims are accorded justice.
He cautioned criminal gangs that are mushrooming in Vihiga and the neighbouring Kakamega County, including Usiku SACCO, Reggae Defender, Paka Mang’a and Jeshi la Allah that their days are numbered and will be dealt with ruthlessly.
CC also cautioned perpetrators of defilement incidents and the affected victims from holding ‘kangaroo courts’ (communal courts), saying justice must prevail at all times.
By Maureen Imbayi
