Africa-Press – Kenya. Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya has painted the grim situation under which police officers in banditry-prone areas work. Natembeya who is the former Rift Valley Regional Commissioner on Sunday said the officers lack motivation as they are paid the same salaries as their counterparts in other regions.
He said during his three years tenure as the regional commissioner, not a single cent was invested in the fight against banditry. Natembeya said the situation sometimes gets so bad, that they can barely afford food.
He said a lot of the things going on in the banditry hit areas will never be told in the open and urged the president to ensure he is not ‘shielded from the truth’.
“The issue of security, I was the RRC and I fought the issue a lot. There are things you will never be told Mr President,” Natembeya said.
“The officers who are being shot dead not even one of them is given an allowance. The salary an officer in Kapedo gets is the same an officer standing here in Ngata in traffic is getting, there is no incentive whatever.”
Natembeya said for the police to get food, they enter into an unholy alliance with bandits and give bullets where they get a goat in return for food. He said despite asking for a military to help in the operation, there was insubordination due to conflicting interests.
“The things that happened in Laikipia conservancy made me resolve to leave my job because you would tell someone these are the coordinates, the bandits are this side then they bomb the opposite side because the owners of the livestock are the same people we sit with on the table to plan strategies on how to finish the bandits,” he said.
“Later, they would declare the region banditry free and let residents go back to their homes.”
This comes even as the leaders from the region asked for military support to help handle the situation that has seen residents and police officers lose their lives.
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