Police declare war on cattle rustlers

Police on Wednesday declared war on cattle rustlers following the weekend killings of security personnel in Baragoi, Samburu County. Read (Kibaki sends army after Baragoi killers)

Deputy Police Spokesman Charles Owino told reporters in Nairobi that security officers would not spare bandits raiding communities.
“I am sending a very strong warning to the rustlers. It is not going to be business as usual and must be prepared to die because we are not going to allow any police officer to die,” he said.

“Police handle people with human dignity, than we are labelled weak. We are called naïve and unprepared. We are now going to lose the rustlers and their cattle because livestock is not too expensive for the government to compensate,” he added.

On Saturday morning, a combined force of police officers pursuing rustlers in Baragoi were ambushed by rustlers, two kilometres away from the Manyatta they had kept the stolen livestock.

On Wednesday, police confirmed that 23 officers and six police reservists were shot dead in the incident. Six more police officers are yet to be trace, added Mr Owino.

But the police said they now need public support to deal with the problem which they admit has been going on for a long time now.

Mr Owino lambasted activists whom he said have often been quick defending criminals when they are shot by the police.

“The society that we live in must stop naivety and make serious decisions that will take the country forward. We are over concentrating on protecting the rights of criminals who have no respect for the future of the country,” said Mr Owino.

“It is sad that many Kenyans who are naïve rush to bash Commissioner (Mathew) Iteere at a very bad moment when he is mourning the life very young officers. We are not going to allow anyone to bash our commissioner. We consider it as serious abuse,” he added.

On Tuesday, the government approved for the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) deployment in Samburu area to track down the rustlers.

The area has poor road network and communication and the police are said to have been further weakened by lack of proper equipment when they were ambushed on Saturday.

But Samburu is not the only area where police have been attacked.

Tana River, Isiolo, Pokot, Keiyo-Markwet and Turkana Counties are the other areas where violent livestock raids are common.