Impose stiff penalties on small arms offenders, State urged

By Maureen Mudi

The Government has been asked to urgently review legislation on small arms to ensure stiffer penalties are imposed on offenders.

Speaking to The Standard on Saturday in Mombasa, Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light (KNFPSALW) Weapons co-ordinator David Kimaiyo said a draft national policy has been developed.

He said the final policy document on Small Arms and Light Weapons had been presented to the Internal Security and Provincial Administration Ministry for transmission to the Cabinet for approval.

"The Act needs to be reviewed to ensure stiffer penalties are handed down to suspects found with small arms," he said.

He said the maximum jail term imposed on offenders is lenient and proposes it be adjusted to life sentence.

Armed conflicts

This was during the re-establishment and reconstitution of the provincial task forces at Travellers Beach Hotel.

The task force chairman, who is also Coast Provincial Commissioner Ernest Munyi and the Provincial Police Officer Leo Nyongesa said cross border banditry, cattle rustling, armed conflicts and carjacking are fuelled by easy access to small arms.

"It must, however, be acknowledged that due to limited resources, the pace of the implementation of the Nairobi protocol has not been carried out as expected and we hope the process will be finalised," the PC said.

Kimaiyo said the use of illicit arms is serious and should be addressed at higher levels of governance.

He urged the media to sensitise the public about small arms proliferation.

He asked those with illicit arms to surrender them or face full force of the law.

Mr A Diang’a of KNFPSALW said Kenya, just like Uganda, is in the process of overhauling the Firearms Act.