A section of residents from the North Rift region has come to the defence of Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, dismissing allegations that he is not doing enough to tackle insecurity in parts of the country.
The residents, led by Kimaiya Minanyang and Kibor Tuliaki, termed the recent media reports a smear campaign to discredit the good work of the CS.
"We know there is a deliberate attempt by some leaders to tarnish the image of Murkomen whose political star is rising because of the good work he is doing," said Minanyang.
The residents particularly took issue with an article by a particular media house, noting it was not only outrageous but also misleading.
They said security matters are a collective responsibility where everyone in the society, including the media, should participate if peace and stability are to be realised.
"What has been published about Murkomen is a personal vendetta against him," said Tuliaki.
They dismissed claims that insecurity occasioned by banditry, cattle rustling and terrorism have increased since Murkomen took over the Interior docket.
Minanyang said acts of lawlessness along the Kerio Valley have drastically reduced apart from few isolated cases where two or three criminals ambush herdsmen in the region.
He singled out an attack in Kowow grazing grounds on Friday where some bandits just shot dead a young man who was looking after his animals as some of the incidents taking place in the region.
"Murkomen is hardly four months in the Interior docket and some people are blaming him over insecurity issues. Let's stop making jokes too far. He is even yet to settle at the Ministry," said Minanyang.
They said the CS has done enough, including opening of security roads along the Kerio Valley to ease movement of security officers whenever there was any attack.
"It's now upon us to volunteer useful information that can lead to the arrest of the few criminal elements since they are amongst us for action to be taken against them," said Tuliaki.
The residents maintained that the profit posted by Kenya Airways after more than a decade of losses buoyed by foreign exchange gains was a result of initiatives by Murkomen when he was the Transport CS.
"It's always good to say things as they are. The airline has posted an all-time high net profit of Sh 5.4 billion for 2024, a turnaround from a Sh 22.6 billion loss in 2023 because of the good policies put in place by Murkomen when he was the CS for Transport, " said Minanyang.
They urged Kenyans to always support the work of leaders instead of politicising their work.
"We know there are leaders in this country who are never happy whenever someone succeeds in his or her work. They just think about 2027 or 2032 politics at the expense of service delivery," said Tuliaki.
