Turkana Governor Jeremiah Lomurukai has called for the disarmament of bandits in regions neighbouring Turkana East and Turkana South sub counties to arrest insecurity.
While condemning the killing of eight police officers, a chief and two residents of Turkana East, Lomurukai called for an operation to mop up arms in the hands of bandits.
He also appealed to President William Ruto to deploy national police reservists in the conflict zone saying they were critical to maintaining peace and security.
He regretted that criminals who were responsible for torching houses and killing 10 people in Napeitom last month are yet to be brought to book despite the leaders’ call for action.
“Residents of Turkana are tired of mourning deaths of their family members, victims of bandit that is getting out of hand with each murder that goes unpunished. Just last month 10 innocent residents of Turkana were burnt to death in Napeitom, when the same bandits torched their houses in the middle of the night,” he said.
The Governor said incidents of police officers being killed by bandits while on duty in Turkana East have become too common and paint an alarming picture of the state of insecurity in the region.
“Security forces deployed to Turkana and across volatile regions in the North Rift need better support from the government to combat with the ever increasing danger of bandit terror. Better intelligence gathering and speed in response will be key, as well as deployment of more specialized units to strategic areas to end the state of lawlessness,’ said the governor.
Meanwhile, the county boss has directed the county department of disaster management to move with speed to implement emergency response to provide support to affected families and appealed to other organizations to support these efforts.
At the same time, the National Police Service has launched a multi-agency security operation following the attack.
By Peter Gitonga
