Gov’t Launches Disarmament Program after Nadome Killings

The Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet directed all individuals holding illegal guns to surrender them or face the full force of the law. 

A week after the deadly cattle rustling activities in the Nadome area of Turkana County, tangible action is yet to be seen.

But now the Inspector General of Police through a statement to newsrooms says the National Police Service has begun an operation to disarm residents of Baringo, Turkana, Samburu and West Pokot counties.

Boinnet says the operation aims to restore calm in the area, arrest bandits and confiscate illegal weapons while recovering stolen livestock.

The operation is the latest in a series of government crackdowns in the area. Statistics show that Kenya has had more than 50 disarmament operations in recent years, with many touting the Mt. Elgon operation Okoa Maisha in 2008 that netted 103 assorted firearms and 1,155 rounds of ammunition as the most successful.

Snubbing summons by the CID

Last year following the Kapedo killings of 21 police officers, a disarmament operation recovered 23 firearms that had been stolen from the massacred officers.

The success of the operation in disarming locals remains unclear, partly as a result of the cultural nature of residents to own and use firearms despite their illicit nature.

According to the regional commissioner Hassan Warfa, the region could be home to close to 200,000 illegal firearms.

And even after leaders from the cattle rustling prone counties snubbed summons by the CID on Friday, save for West Pokot Senator Professor John Lonyangapuo who sought postponement of his appearance, Deputy President William Ruto urged the leaders to help end the perennial conflict.

He was speaking at Kapsangar Secondary School in West Pokot County where some of the summoned leaders expressed discontent with the handling of investigations into the Sunday killings of 66 people at Nadome and its environs.

Despite the leaders snubbing CID summons, it remains unclear if the investigators sought warrants of arrest against the named politicians from the courts, based on the gravity of the crimes being probed.