Criminals, local terrorists are every other night maiming, raping, terrorizing, killing, destroying and looting property and traumatizing innocent peaceful citizens of the County of Bungoma and most brazenly in Mt. Elgon Constituency. The criminals, terrorists have done it since mid last year and gotten away with it and they continue to be emboldened in their criminal murderous enterprises.
The County Commissioner and the National Police Service formations that constitute the Security Agencies in the County that the County Commissioner chairs continue to issue impotent, annoying statements on the state of insecurity that is costing lives that cannot be replaced and traumatizing families that are attacked and generally instilling a climate of fear, not knowing who will be next. The socio-economic activities of the affected areas are being extremely affected.
So what must the residents, honorable citizens of the affected areas do? Must they wait to be slaughtered like chicken, their wives , daughters, sisters, aunties to be raped, property destroyed, cows killed, money extorted and their lives to be turned upside down by the thugs, murderers, terrorists, criminals as the Police Force only appears in the day to collect bodies pretending to investigate and the same killings, rapes, maiming continue? Enough is enough Mr. County Commissioner and your Security Agencies. You either get the criminals, terrorists alive or dead and have them behind bars or the populace will have to arm itself to defend itself from these marauding gangsters, murderers.
It is not lost to anybody that all the killings, rapes, maiming take place at night? Where are the security agencies at night? We dare say, sound asleep and most of them after a busy day of collecting bribes and harassing innocent wananchi. Without the security agencies on full patrol throughout the night and prepared to confront, arrest, kill these murderers the state of insecurity will not be addressed, eradicated.
It must be settled whether the security personnel in the County and the region only work during day time and so that wananchi take contingency measures to protect themselves rather than being duped of there being security personnel at night when in actual fact there are none working except hiding in the comfort of the police stations or their cozy homes.
Is it not then more useful to have the police off duty sleeping in the day and then work full time at night when all these dastardly crimes against innocent citizens are being committed? Why have them off duty at night when they are most needed? And it is not just being on duty at night, they must have the motivation, the tools, the vehicles to patrol and communication equipment to be able to surround any area a crime takes place and comb it until the criminals are apprehended or killed.
It cannot be business as usual with political whimpers at funerals of citizens callously killed spewing this or that threat to national government officials who are impervious to the loss of yet another life and another funeral, another Saturday.
The elected County Government must take its own measures including deploying its vehicles to have the security situation in the affected areas restored before it continues with its normal activities. No meaningful economic activity can take place in a climate of fear, terror, routine murders. Mt. Elgon is the breadbasket of Bungoma in terms of food and the larger Western and beyond. It cannot be left to the control of terrorists murderers, extortionists by whatever description.
Desperate times call for desperate measures and the local leaders must take radical measures to arrest the insecurity threatening to paralysis the general lives of the affected areas of Bungoma, Mt. Elgon Sub- County. The National Government must be held liable, negligent in and or in abdication of its cardinal duty to protect life and property. It must be sued to compensate for the loss of lives and property.
The right to security provided by the state is a fundamental right that is non – negotiable and sacrosanct. It must not be trivialized in Bungoma County. So be it if it is the Saboat Defence Land Force let the Kenya Defence Force be called in to smoke them out the way they were done in 2008. The National Government in Bungoma County must guarantee security to the residents of the County, period. The Parliamentary Committee responsible for security must visit Mr. Elgon and unearth the dereliction of duty to provide security by the National Government that is self evident.
Mt. Elgon sub-county cannot continue to be the theatre of death by night to innocent citizens while the security forces are sound asleep. The killing fields of Mt. Elgon must be converted into an oasis of peace, tranquility now not tomorrow. Shame on the elected leaders of the County for trivializing the deaths in Mt. Elgon. If a state of emergency, a curfew will address the insecurity so be it, let it be declared and enforced.