Gov't deploys more GSU officers to Baringo after over 2,000 people displaced by bandit attacks

The government has deployed more General Service Unit (GSU) officers and armoured personnel carriers as part of escalated efforts to tame banditry in Baringo North.

This follows an increase in the number of attacks which have so far claimed 13 lives and led over 2,000 families out of their homes. 

Citizen TV visited Baringo North Constituency which is now a hotbed of attacks, with the silence deafening as several homesteads have been deserted.

“Saizi tukiongea hatujui kesho...hatujui kesho kutwa...tunaomba tu ikatike,” Joseph Makilap, Baringo North MP said.

Several schools have remained closed affecting hundreds of learners whose future has been interrupted by the blood-thirsty bandits.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof. Kithure Kindiki has sustained his tough talk leading efforts by the government to find a working strategy to weed out the bandits.

The warnings however seem to fall on deaf ears, if the sustained banditry attacks are anything to go by.

“We know we have been talking to the people of this region...wale wana husika na wizi wa mifugo lakini hawajaskiza...tunataka sasa serikali itumie mbinu tofauti,” said Baringo Governor Benjamin Cheboi.

The government has moved to deploy more GSU officers and armoured personnel carriers to reinforce the security operations in the area.

“Hatujakuwa na kituo cha usalama karibu na wananchi ndio maana tumeamua kwamba wale officers wetu wa GSU tuweke kambi pale Kosile ili wananchi waweze kurudi katika sehemu hiyo,” Baringo Commissioner Stephen Kutwo noted.

It is a constant struggle to stay alive and to remain safe for thousands of residents who are now putting up in several makeshift camps. The area leaders have called for urgent intervention to address the humanitarian crisis.

“Close to 10,000 people who have left their homes whose children are in the bush including the mother who gave birth yesterday,” MP Makilap stated.

Governor Cheboi added: “Nataka kuuliza makanisa development partners to come to the rescue of this part of the world.”

For the over 2,000 families living in these IDP camps, their hope is pegged on what the government will do to address the unbearable disruption of their lives sooner rather than later.