Security officers recover 700 illegal guns

By Edwin Cheserek

The Government has recovered more than 700 illegal firearms in the ongoing disarmament among pastoral communities.

Rift Valley Provincial Police Officer Francis Munyambu said 38 guns had been recovered in the past one week.

The recovery, he said, brought to 739 weapons confiscated from illegal hands in the last three months.

Speaking to journalists in Eldoret yesterday, Munyambu said the Government is committed to ridding the country of illegal weapons.

He cited proliferation of illegal firearms as the cause of persistent conflicts between communities sharing resources.

"The availability of firearms has fuelled insecurity and more people continue to be killed and livestock stolen," said the officer.

He said the Government would deploy more security officers in the expansive Pokot and Turkana counties to reinforce the operation.

"The war on crime cannot be won unless the State recovers all illegally owned guns," he added.

Last month, the Government suspended the exercise in Pokot and Turkana counties to deal with the effects of drought.

North Rift Deputy Provincial Commissioner Wilson Wanyanga announced the State had put the exercise on hold to use the personnel and resources to help famine stricken families.

The Government machinery that was used to carry out the disarmament exercise was deployed to transport water and relief food.

Munyambu appealed to those in areas where the disarmament exercise had not been carried out to surrender their arms to the local provincial administrators.

He said when the exercise is over he would ask the Government to set up schools and hospitals at the common borders to foster peace.