Murkomen: Defeating bandits is a hard task

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen warned that combating banditry remains a challenging task. During a meeting with the National Assembly’s Internal Security and National Administration Committee on October 7, 2026, he highlighted that armed groups possess local knowledge of terrain and blend effortlessly with civilians, making conventional security operations more difficult.

Murkomen stated that the government is increasingly employing intelligence-led operations to identify and dismantle bandit networks one by one. He emphasized that this approach is essential due to the unique nature of banditry, which differs from confronting external armed groups. Bandits live within the same communities security agencies are trying to protect, often being teenagers who return home after participating in criminal activities.

The CS noted that treating entire communities as hostile areas is impractical, especially when some bandits are family members. Instead, intelligence gathering allows authorities to focus on individuals involved in banditry, avoiding broad operations that affect innocent residents. He cited previous success in Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, and West Pokot as a model for addressing insecurity in remaining hotspots.

The government has previously implemented firearm amnesties combined with intelligence-led operations in the North Rift, resulting in the surrender of over 2,000 illegal firearms by June 2026. Murkomen expressed confidence in replicating this approach to reduce banditry in other persistent hotspots. He was optimistic that the same strategy, which involved targeting top criminals and granting amnesty to others, could yield similar results in challenging areas.