Kindiki to reveal spiritual leaders and politicians supporting bandits

According to Kindiki, the three-week joint operation in the banditry-prone region by the National Police Service (NPS) and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) has generated intelligence linking a number of leaders to the banditry.

In a statement on Sunday, Kindiki stated that the intelligence has unmasked the "senior commanders, spiritual leaders, political patrons and the commercial beneficiaries" working with the bandits.

Before long, added Kindiki, he will be laying bare the identity of the aforementioned individuals, adding that one spiritual leader "who has been providing prophetic support" to the bandits has been apprehended.

"In a short while, we shall be circulating the names and photographs of these dark pillars of the evil network that is banditry," said Kindiki.

Owing to the 3-week crackdown, Kindiki said that security agencies have assessed the terrain and identified the "gaps to seal" without harming innocent locals.

"The Government has conclusively identified the survival lifeblood that must now be cut to neutralize banditry for good. This vice has been supported all along by a toxic mix of bad terrain, weapon supply and banditry leadership," he said. 

However, despite efforts to tame the bandits, Kindiki said that the gangs continue to kill civilians and security officers.

In the last seven months over 135 Kenyans, including 20 officers, have been killed.

This week, he added, nearly 12 Kenyans have been killed in Malaso, Pura and Kur Kur areas while 6 others have been murdered in Tot, Elgeyo Marakwet County.

"During the same period, dozens of schools have been closed, thousands of families displaced, and public amenities and infrastructure destroyed by these criminal gangs," he said.  

The bandits have been terrorising residents in Baringo, Laikipia, Samburu, Turkana, West Pokot and Elgeyo Marakwet Counties. 

He affirmed that officers will not retreat from the region until they silence and recover all guns, promising that the government shall offer significant monetary rewards to any member of the public who will provide information on the gang's whereabouts.

"We are taking this war to their hideouts by land and air, with all our weight and might and with all the strength that God has given us to effectively defeat this lamentable catalogue of crimes against humanity."