NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 12 – Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai has warned politicians against holding political meetings in the Laikipia security designated area without police clearance.
In a statement the IG said the security situation in Laikipia is still delicate after the skirmishes experienced there since last month, leading to deaths, lost of property and displacements of hundreds.
“That security zoned area in Laikipia remains a no go zone,” Mutyambai said, “there will be no political meeting there by anyone.”
The government has been carrying out a crackdown politicians blamed for incitement. So far, two politicians from the region have been arrested.
Tiaty MP William Kamket and former Laikipia North lawmaker Matthew Lempurkel are out on bail following their arrests.
They are accused of fanning violence in Laikipia Nature Conservancy where bandits have been stealing cattle and torching houses leading to dusk to dawn curfew that was declared there last week ti facilitate a security operation.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi has already set up a new police station there and deployed dozens of police officers to restore peace.
“We are not going to tolerate anyone this time round. We will beat you up . These jokes where politicians mess around with the lives of our people is unacceptable and we will not allow it anymore. We will beat them,” he warned during a visit to the region where he was accompanied by Mutyambai and other security chiefs.
While assuring the residents in the troubled region of their safety, Matiangi stressed that the government will not sit and watch as bandits displace residents.
“Nobody this time round is going to be displaced. In this day and age we cannot allow people to live in anxiety,” he said.
On Saturday, the CS announced that the National Police Reservists (NPR) will escort teachers and learners as government steps up its efforts to restore learning in the troubled Ol Moran area of Laikipia.
This is in a bid to provide conducive environment for learning which paralyzed due to bandit attacks in the expansive Laikipia Nature Conservancy.
Matiangi gave the directive during the second day of his working tour in Ol Moran where he expressed optimism that the new security measures will restore order.
“I’m glad that there was no single incident was reported last night, and that is what we envision for our people. We have stepped up our presence here, and we have begun constructing the Ol-Moran Police Divisional Headquarters, and the basic feature of such a station is that it will have more than 100 police officers,” he said.
