Kindiki orders locals residing in bandit-infested areas to vacate immediately

Interior CS Kithure Kindiki has ordered locals residing in bandit-infested zones to leave immediately as the government puts in place measures to flush out bandits using the areas as hideouts.

Kindiki noted that people living in 27 gorges, ravines, escarpments and hills in Baringo, Samburu, Laikipia, West Pokot and Turkana Counties should vacate the areas within 24 hours or else be dealt with as bandits.

“The above-specified spaces are hereby declared scenes of crime and any person found therein from Monday, March 13, 2023, at 0830 hours will be treated as a suspect of armed banditry, or as a suspect of aiding and abetting banditry, or an accessory after the fact. Everyone must get out,” Kindiki said.

According to the Interior CS, bandits have been hiding in gorges, ravines, and caves.

Kindiki stated that the government has identified the leaders and beneficiaries of the bandit groups and will pursue them.

“Intelligence has led us to identify a handful of senior commanders in charge of the bandit network as well as their spiritual leaders, political patrons and the commercial beneficiaries of bandit gangs. We know who they are, where they are and how they are operating,” he said.