Find lasting solution to banditry menace

Police officers at the scene where suspected Pokot Bandits ambushed police officers at Kasarani area along Kapedo- Lomelo road on November 15, 2017. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

Growing up in Kongoitiame village in Igembe North, Meru County, banditry was every child’s worst nightmare.

Armed bandits, or shiftas as we knew them, would creep up on the villages at night, stealing from shops and sometimes killing people before beating a hasty retreat. I remember nights when we would have to take cover in the bushes as the sound of gunfire pervaded the night as police reservists battled the heavily armed raiders.