Bungei: Community-led approach boosts recovery of illicit firearms

The Director of the Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons, Adamson Bungei, has revealed that the security agencies are increasingly relying on community participation to recover illegal firearms.

According to Bungei, most of the weapons already retrieved by the government in the recent months were voluntarily surrendered.

Speaking during an interview with K24 TV on Friday, April 24, 2026, Bungei said the government has adopted a multi-agency and community-driven strategy aimed at improving trust and intelligence sharing in affected regions.

“What we do mostly is we sensitise the people. And this is inclusive of the local leaders, first, the local leaders. We call it a multi-agency approach where the government uses the locals: churches, the pastors in the church – those are the people who are always with these people,” Bungei said.

Local influencers

Bungei noted that rather than simply deploying police units into difficult terrain where suspects and weapons often disappear behind rocks or into dense forests, the government is actively sensitising the population through local influencers.

He said the approach utilises those who maintain a level of trust and familiarity with the residents that the central government often lacks.

“The chiefs around there, the volunteers, well-wishers, the NGOs and the rest on the ground. Once we utilise them, we use them to reach the people; it is much easier because they know each other. They are more friendly to them than we are, as the government comes in and says, ” Now we want the firearms,” Bungei noted.

According to Bungei, the approach has improved recovery efforts, with about 1,500 illegal firearms already retrieved, the majority of which were surrendered voluntarily.

“We’ve now acquired what I’ve told you; so far, the 1,500 have been recovered. Three-quarters of these firearms were just surrendered,” Bungei said.

No peace with illegal guns

Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen has been at the forefront, stressing that lasting peace would remain elusive as long as illegal firearms were still in the hands of civilians, insisting that dialogue alone could not resolve insecurity in armed communities.

Murkomen called on residents to participate in the government’s gun return program, emphasising that the disarmament exercise is crucial for restoring peace and security in the region.

“Therefore, we have agreed in one voice that whatever happens, all guns in the hands of citizens who are not security officers must be returned to the Government of Kenya through the program we have for returning guns to the government,” Murkomen stated while speaking during an interdenominational service in West Pokot County on Sunday, January 4, 2026.

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