Former National Police Reservists ordered to surrender uniforms

Former national police reservist who were disarmed by the government have been ordered to surrender all uniforms in their possession.
Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya said any national police reservist whose gun was confiscated and may have been issued with government uniform must surrender it since they were no longer serving as NPR.
“Those walking around with the uniforms are only masquerading as NPR. The government has closed the chapter of the traditional KPR where those recruited used to stay within the community with guns,” said the regional commissioner.
Speaking in Eldoret on Friday during a tour of National government funded projects by the regional development implementation and coordination committee, (RDICC), Natembeya said the new crop of NPR t will be recruited and trained as National Police Reserve and their recruitment will not be local or ethnic based.
“After the training the reservists will stay at camps where they will be managed by a senior police officer,” he added.
He at the same time announced that individuals who illegally own firearms in the North Rift region had only a week to surrender the same voluntarily before they are disarmed forcefully.
“From next week we are going to camp in Baragoi in Samburu, Baringo, Turkana and the Kerio Valley to retrieve all illegal firearms in the hands of Wananchi. I wish to urge any individual in this region who owns a gun illegally to willfully surrender it to government before the amnesty period elapses,” he added.
“If you refuse with the gun you know what will happen to you. We are going to apply full force to disarm those who fail to surrender the guns because we have given them adequate time to hand them over,” he warned.
He however said some regions, such as Turkana have heeded the amnesty and some individuals have already surrendered the firearms and called on other regions to follow suit.
Natembeya who was accompanied by Uasin Gishu County Commissioner Abdirisack Jaldesa said the government was committed to sort out perennial insecurity in the North Rift region by ensuring all illegal arms are mopped up.
“The only people allowed to carry guns are the police and other government security agencies or licensed individuals. Any other person owning a gun or pistol is a threat to security,” he added.
By Kiptanui Cherono