NIS boss takes over as NEP Regional Commissioner in changes

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) head of Border Control Frontier Nicodemus Musyoki Ndalana has been named the new Regional Commissioner for North Eastern.

Ndalana, a long time director in charge of border security takes over from Mohamed Birik who was recalled to Harambee House.

Ndalana is the latest NIS officer to join mainstream security operations. President Uhuru Kenyatta has, during his term, appointed several NIS officials to key positions in government.

NEP has had challenges of insecurity since the Kenya Defence Forces moved into Somalia in 2011 to crush the Al-Shabaab militia.

An agreement was reached in 2015 to appoint regional commissioners and police bosses from the area as part of efforts to tame insecurity. Mohamed Saleh was named the RC before Birik took over from him in January 2019.

In the latest incident two weeks ago, ten non-locals were flushed out of a bus and shot at close range in macabre style by the militants.

In October, 11 personnel from the General Service Unit were killed in a blast after their vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device believed to have been planted by Al-Shabaab militants on the Degoh road, Liboi, Garissa County.

An intelligence report has identified some residents of Wajir County as being behind the latest attacks in the region.

The clan-based militia has also been extorting money from residents and then escaping to neighbouring Somalia.

The suspects have been leading the group in identifying the targets of extortion, which includes businesses, buses and livestock owners.