police give bullets in exchange of goats in banditry prone areas.
Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya has lifted the lid on persisting banditry in parts of the Rift Valley.
Natembeya claimed that police officers deployed to combat banditry in different parts of the country are not compensated by the government pushing them to form alliances with the bandits and cattle rustlers.
“These officers who we see are being shot dead, and none of them are being given allowance the salary they get is the same as a traffic police officer receives. There is no incentive whatsoever. I was the Regional Commander in Rift Valley and I really fought with insecurity. There are things you’ll never be told, President. During my 3-year tenure as the Regional Commissioner, I did not receive even a single cent to fight insecurity,” Natembeya narrated.
The county boss disclosed that due to the neglect by the government, the officers sometimes trade bullets for goats. “It even gets to the point officers are forced to engage in an unholy alliance with the bandits. They give out bullets in exchange for goats so that they can get something to eat,” he said.
The former regional commissioner said their cries for more manpower were obliged but the army was deployed for a week and a few days.
“We even requested more manpower from the army and the former president provided the team for 10 days. And what happened at the Laikipia conservancy is what made me quit this job because officers are given the coordinates where the bandits are but they end up attacking a different place because the people they are meant to fight are the same ones benefiting them,” he said.
He asked the president to be in touch with his people as much as his hangers-on would want to paint a good picture of the situation things were not looking good.
