In a bid to delocalize police stations, Interior CS Fred Matiang’i has said that all police officers who have served in one station for more than four years will be transferred.
The redeployment is scheduled to begin in June with Matiang’i indicating that it will affect junior and senior officers.
Matiang’i said the National Police Commission will introduce delocalization policy where police officers will not be allowed to serve in their home counties.
“We are going to look into the list and make sure that if you come from Nyamira, you will be deployed in Kwale or Garissa. This will help in improving our security,” he said during his tour of troubled Matungu.
The CS also announced that the government had deployed General Service Unit (GSU) officers to hunt down killer gangs in Matungu sub-county, Kakamega county following the recent wave of killings that has claimed 20 lives in two months.
Matiang’i asked the residents to prepare for a major operation targeting the gangs who have been raiding homes at night during his Thursday visit in the area.
Dr.@FredMatiangi toured Matungu area, Kakamega, where he announced that a contingent of GSU troops has been deployed to handle the recent profound deterioration of security in the region. He warned perpetrators to voluntarily surrender because they will eventually be smoked out. pic.twitter.com/tTKmnxCH2C
— Ministry of Interior (@InteriorKE) May 16, 2019
He said the operation would continue until all the suspects are arrested.
He disclosed that a key suspect believed to have been coordinating the killings from Kawangware, Nairobi has been arrested.
“If you are part of this gang surrender to the police within 14 days,” Matiang’i said at Harambee Primary School grounds.
The CS said preliminary investigations had established that senior politicians were sponsoring the gangs.
According to the reports, investigations have zeroed in three politicians who are suspected to have instigated the killings.
Kakamega County Commissioner Abdulrizak Jaldesa said the politicians are suspected to be in charge of criminal gangs that have terrorized the constituency and instilled fear in the residents.
The County Commissioner, however, withheld the politicians’ identities, saying that they have launched investigations into the findings.
“We cannot name them now because this will jeopardize our investigations but we have sufficient information to hold the three politicians who are residents of this county to task because whenever we go, their names are [mentioned in connection] to the killings,” said Mr. Jaldesa.