Leaders have demanded that the State must end cattle rustling and killings in Meru and Isiolo counties.
Speaking in Nairobi, Nyambene Njuri Ncheke Trust said the incidents have been going on for over two years despite there being security agencies on the ground.
The leaders, from Meru County, said if the government fails to stop the insecurity situation within 14 days, they will sue it. The leaders also want the transfer of officers who have overstayed in the county for over three years, and the end of a culture of one community heading the police command structure.
“The Nyambene Njuri Ncheke Trust expresses its deepest condolences and profound outrage following the relentless wave of banditry and state-sanctioned negligence in our region,” said Kamencu Ringera, organising secretary of the Trust.
Ringera, who was accompanied by vice chairman Prof. Gitile Naituli, said in March 2026 alone, they had witnessed a bloodbath across Tigania East, Tigania West, Buuri, Igembe Central, Igembe North, and the Northern Meru grazing zones.
He added: “From the cold-blooded killing of Sammy Munoru in Kongo Itari to the brutal murders of Jessy Kailikia and Gitonga Kabailo in Mukulubai, our people are being slaughtered like livestock while the state remains a passive spectator.”
The two said despite high-level "security tours" by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki and Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, the reality on the ground is a haunting landscape of death and displacement.
“While the government issues hollow declarations of 'disturbed and dangerous' areas, armed gangs continue to migrate from Isiolo, Kulamawe, and Kina into Meru with military-grade precision and zero resistance,” said Ringera.
According to the two, 142 lives have been lost in the last 24 months, with six expected to be buried this coming Saturday.
They also said over 15,000 heads of cattle have been stolen, thus making the communities bankrupt or poor, and there has been deliberate crippling of the National Police Reservists (NPR), because they have been disarmed and left defenseless while bandits roam with superior firepower.
The leaders also cited constitutional violation, where people from one tribe (Kalenjin) are the ones heading security positions from top.
“The Nyambene Njuri Ncheke Trust wishes to highlight a grave and illegal trend. Under Article 232(1)(h) of the Constitution of Kenya, the public service, including the National Police Service, must reflect the representation of Kenya's diverse communities,” said Prof. Naituli.
He added: “We have documented a disturbing reality where over 90 per cent of the security command chain in the Meru-Isiolo-Tharaka Nithi conflict zone is drawn from a single ethnic community.”
The mono-ethnic command and deployment, he said, includes the Isiolo County Police Commander and County Commissioner, Regional Commander of Operations (Isiolo/Laikipia/Meru/Samburu), the GSU In-charge (Kathare), and Anti-Stock Theft Unit In-charge.
Prof. Naituli also said the Administration Police Commander for Meru County has inexplicably remained at the same station for 15 years, and the majority of Officer Commanding Stations (OCSs) and District Criminal Investigations Officers (DCIOs) across the affected sub-counties.
“This is not a coincidence; it is a deliberate deployment strategy that violates the spirit of our Constitution. This lack of diversity breeds deep mistrust, as the Meru community feels governed by a "foreign" police command structure that lacks the cultural context and the will to protect them,” said Prof. Naituli.
The Nyambene Njuri Ncheke Trust demanded the immediate reshuffling of security personnel and diversification of the police command and deployment.
“We demand the immediate removal and replacement of the entire security leadership team in Meru and Isiolo Counties and a command structure that reflects the face of Kenya. This is very important because in a multi-ethnic society, governance, you cannot have police drawn from one community in an area and those people have not arrested a single person,” he said.
It also demanded the immediate removal and transfer of long-staying officers, including any commander who has served in the region for over three years, saying that violates police operating procedures.
On accountability and prosecution, they said security officers must be held personally accountable for the loss of life in their jurisdictions.
“People of Meru expected to be protected by the State, and that has not happened. The officers should not just be transferred but also held accountable for gross criminal negligence,” said Prof. Naituli.
The leaders also demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of known financiers and perpetrators of these raids, full financial compensation for the families of the 142 deceased, and the facilitation of the immediate recovery or reimbursement for the 15,000 stolen cattle.
The Trust further demanded restoration of NPR, re-arming, vetting, and proper remuneration of those who are sourced from the local Meru community because they understand the terrain and have a stake in its safety.
The Kenya Wildlife Service(KWS), it demands that it take full control and physical possession of the Nyambene National Game Reserve, which was gazetted in 2000, and seal it off because it's being used as a hideout for bandits.
It also called for the professionalisation of security, saying there is a need to immediately end the use of security deployments as tools for the 2027 general election politics.
“We are entering a very dangerous situation for this country. Here, you can occupy an office as Inspector General of Police(IG), but you have no power over that office, and some other people below you carry more weight than you,” said Prof. Naituli.
He added: “The Deputy President, CS Interior and IG Kanja, but none of them seem to have the power to stop these cattle rustling and deaths of people.”
The Trust gave the government 14 days to act to stop the cattle rustling and killings; failure to do so would result in a lawsuit.
“The Meru community will no longer be a "sacrificial lamb" at the altar of administrative incompetence and ethnic parochialism. We give the government seven 14-day periods to initiate these changes. Should this period lapse without action, we shall seek legal redress by suing the government and mobilise our people for massive, peaceful demonstrations to reclaim our right to life, dignity, and property,” he said.
