Baringo leaders have urged the government to declare banditry and cattle rustling a national disaster.
Led by Senator William Cheptumo, the leaders said citizens of eight to 10 counties face threats of bandit attacks.
“It is time President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua declared it a national disaster and provided permanent solutions to the problem,” he said.
Cheptumo spoke during the burial of GSU officer John Kisoi in Kukui, Baringo North, on Saturday. Kisoi was among eight officers ambushed and killed by bandits in Napeitom, Turkana East, last Saturday.
The senator said banditry is now common in Isiolo, Samburu, Turkana, Baringo, Laikipia, Tana River, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, among other counties.
He said tougher measures should be put in place to tackle banditry once and for all.
Cheptumo said in 2014, he moved a motion, which was then adopted and passed in Parliament, to declare banditry and cattle rustling a national disaster. It was not implemented, he said.
The senator said he proposed in the same bill compensation for victims of banditry attacks.
“But I now have a lot of hope and trust Ruto’s administration is going to listen to the plight of the suffering people who elected him to office,” he said.
Cheptumo requests the government to prioritise compensating the victims.
He said he learned about the first banditry attack in Baringo North in 1977 during former President Jomo Kenyatta's reign.
“Later former presidents Daniel Moi took over, then Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta, but banditry is still destabilising families. This must end with Ruto being the President of Kenya,” Cheptumo said.
Cheptumo said elected leaders in Baringo and residents are united to help end the menace.
“As leaders, we have given out all the names of the notorious bandits, their village elders and the chiefs,” he said.
Cheptumo also called for the recruitment of more National Police Reservists to assist police officers conduct border patrols.
Baringo North MP Joseph Makilap and Woman Representative Florence Jematia said banditry should not be treated lightly.
“Leaders of Baringo have already told the President this thing should no longer be called cattle rustling, instead it should be referred as terrorism,” Makilap said.
He said banditry is terrorism, robbery with violence and territorial expansion. “And whoever practices it should be dealt with firmly,” the MP said.
Makilap said banditry has caused displacement and expansive free land of about 150km from Kapedo to Turkana and another 20km on the borders of Tiaty, Baringo North and Baringo South.
“Pastoral communities such as Turkana, Tugen, Marakwet, Kikuyu, Samburu, Ilchamus, Sebei and Karamojong in Uganda are always crying because of one enemy called bandit,” he said.
Jematia said more than 30,000 people in Baringo have been displaced.
“They currently live in the bushes like wanted criminals, yet they deserve to enjoy peace like other Kenyans,” she said.
Jematia said the government should pursue the bandits, follow them into their hideouts and catch them dead or alive.