The Mt Kenya Times 
President William Ruto
By: Joseph Mutua Ndonga
Worth Noting:
- I remember one of the deadly attacks that occurred during the reign of President Mwai Kibaki in Baragoi. 42 police officers, deployed to pursue stolen animals, were shot dead by bandits. We were promised the investigations will be carried out but I never heard any of the criminals being arrested and prosecuted.
- In light of this, the question is. Will the new President succeed to eradicate this menace? It is too early to give a conclusive answer but, in my view, Dr Ruto’s approach is different from his predecessors and hence he sounded more convincing.
- Let me elaborate this point. First, he is a leader who believes in hands-on and decisive style of leadership.
A day after President William Ruto vowed to deal ruthlessly with cattle rustlers who were terrorizing the residents of Baragoi and other parts of North Rift, the media reported that another attack was carried out during which a number of animals were stolen and taken away.
The action of the heavily armed bandits suggested that they were sending a clear message to the President that there is nothing he can do with them. We are the law unto ourselves and by daring us, you only emboldened our resolve.
Perhaps, the other thing they wanted to remind him is that they had received similar warnings before from the successive governments of independent Kenya. However, these governments’ efforts to annihilate them did not bore any fruits.
If they failed, how do you [Dr Ruto] expect to achieve your goal? We have been ruling and calling the shot in this region. We will continue to do so.
Well, to me, the cases of cattle rustling were not new. I had lived to see the strategies the three previous administrations had employed to deal with this problem.
The notable intervention measures were building new police stations, increasing security patrols and recruiting the National Police Reservists [NPR] and arming them. The setting up of a military camp would also be on the card.
I remember one of the deadly attacks that occurred during the reign of President Mwai Kibaki in Baragoi. 42 police officers, deployed to pursue stolen animals, were shot dead by bandits. We were promised the investigations will be carried out but I never heard any of the criminals being arrested and prosecuted.
In light of this, the question is. Will the new President succeed to eradicate this menace? It is too early to give a conclusive answer but, in my view, Dr Ruto’s approach is different from his predecessors and hence he sounded more convincing.
Let me elaborate this point. First, he is a leader who believes in hands-on and decisive style of leadership.
Just a few days after he was sworn-in, he came out gun blazing moments after receiving unfortunate report of banditry attack in Turkana County that left 14 people dead including General Service Unit [GSU] officers. He not only condemned this attack but immediately deployed a high powered team of armed security to pursue the bandits.
The intelligence officers were also deployed to gather information relating to their hideouts and how they were operating. Then, Dr Ruto stated. My government will not sit back and watch these marauding gangs of criminals terrorize our people.
We want tell them that their days numbered. We will use maximum force under the law to crush and annihilate them. With this, calm was restored in the affected.
Turning to the latest incident, this is what I want to tell the bandits. Stop testing and underrating Dr Ruto. If you ignore my advice, then bear this in mind. You are playing with the fire. Dr Ruto is a tough leader when it comes to fighting evils in our society. Here there is no room for compromise or negotiations.
When he took the oath of office, Dr Ruto vowed to protect the lives of all Kenyans and their properties. I’m happy he is walking the talk.
But having said this, I have a piece of advice to my beloved President. The recruitment of National Police Reservists [NPR] should be done in a professional manner and those recruited offered better training. This will help to ensure that your wish is realized.
In previous regimes, reports indicated that some of those recruited turned out to be rogue. They would endanger the lives of the innocent people they were supposed to protect. This is by killing those they disliked, bore grudge with or hiring out their guns to bandits/cattle rustlers.
To ensure everything goes well, the National Police Service [NPS] should set up a team to monitor and evaluate their work. Those who failed should be weeded out.
Joseph Mutua Ndonga is a writer and political commentator based in Nairobi
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