The crime rate in the Country has reduced by 13.5pc in the last three months, says interior CS Kithure Kindiki.Releasing his 100 days scorecard today in Nairobi, Prof Kithure Kindiki said the numbers have fallen significantly from 8,297 reported incidents to 7,179 incidents during the same period.
“Urban crime, especially the Nairobi muggings that had threatened to disrupt our way of life and businesses in our Capital City, have now been contained and we are working hard to bring down the statistics even further down,” Kindiki said.
At the same time, the CS revealed that the 6,000 newly-recruited police and prisons officers will be deployed to insecurity hotspots across the country.
On matters of banditry, Kindiki said in the past 3 months, the government has recovered 60 per cent of stolen animals in the 10 most banditry-affected areas including Kitui, Mandera, Garissa, West Pokot, Laikipia, Samburu, Marsabit, Elgeyo Marakwet, Tana River and Meru.
“For years, Kenyans in the north have lived in fear of bandit attacks and hence resorted to arming themselves to protect their animals and families. This decade-old practice has metamorphosed into an elaborate criminal enterprise,” the CS explained.
Kindiki revealed that he has a high-level counter-banditry land and air team complete with a situation room at the Ministry headquarters to oversee daily progress in the war against bandits.
The also said the government was investing in community-based intelligence, drone surveillance technology, modern personal protection equipment and kiting for the security personnel.
Kindiki added that 100 days after being sworn in as the CS interior, his Ministry has increased border patrols and surveillance in efforts to curb terrorists including Al Shabaab militants.
“We have stepped up our border patrols and upped our surveillance on the proliferation of illicit arms, narcotic drugs and substances. We have also improved on our intelligence gathering to stay steps ahead of the enemy,” he said.
At the same time, the CS announced plans to install an Advanced Passenger Information (API) system as well as e-Gates at the country’s entry points for easy profiling of passengers and convenience.
On matters immigration, Kindiki stated that processing of passports has been expedited to conform to international standards after the issue of the broken passport printer was repaired.
The Standard
