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CS Murkomen: Why guns are not enough to stop banditry in 23 counties
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen and Deputy Inspector-General of Police Eliud Lagat at a camp in Chesongoch, Elgeyo Marakwet County on April 28, 2025.
The government is adopting a major policy shift in securing more than 20 marginalised counties that have endured constant flare-ups since independence, beyond guns and bullets.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the marginalisation in 23 counties has been identified as the biggest contributor to insecurity in Kenya.
He added that the solution to Kenya's security problems does not lie in guns, bullets or building more police stations, but in having a master plan to accelerate development in marginalised areas.
He said deploying security personnel in troubled areas by his ministry was only a stop gap measure and never a permanent solution to the problem.
"It is not by accident or coincidence that 23 counties which cover about 65 percent of Kenya's land mass are constantly insecure. It is because these counties form the regions which were declared as low potential areas through the Sessional Paper Number 10 of 1965" he said.
The CS acknowledged that the people taking guns or engaged in fighting among communities in these troubled counties have no schools to go to, no access roads, water or meaningful economic activities to engage in.
Mr Murkomen said his Interior ministry was only dealing with the symptoms of the problem and pacifying insecurity challenges by building more police stations or deploying security personnel.
Conflicts
"Banditry, cattle rustling and pastoral conflicts among communities will still be major security problems in the next 50 years like they have been since independence unless urgent measures are taken to develop the affected areas," he told journalists during a joint media interview he hosted at Marie Garden Hotel in Kitui town.
Mr Murkomen has come under fire over rising insecurity across the country.
The CS said it was unbelievable and ridiculous that neighbouring counties like Kitui and Tana River have no access to each other, and lack of connectivity has hindered trade, investment and security.
To access Hola town in the neighbouring Tana River County, Kitui residents and traders have to travel long distances either through Mombasa and Malindi or through Mwingi and Garissa as there is no road connecting the two counties.
He also cited Tiaty Constituency in Baringo County whose inaccessibility has caused constant insecurity problems in Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet and Turkana counties.
The CS urged security agencies under his docket to rethink and come up with Kenya's modern security strategy that goes beyond guns or military deployment but adopting an affirmative action to open up these counties with better roads, water, schools and electricity.
"The road from Isiolo to Moyale was insecure until the late President Mwai Kibaki built it, opening up the North Eastern Region. Today it is no longer risky to drive to Moyale even at night," he said.
As a former CS for Roads and Infrastructure, Mr Murkomen said President William Ruto had directed him to focus on opening up these marginalised counties, as a means of securing the entire country.
Kitui Governor Julius Malombe and MPs Rachael Nyamai (Kitui South) and Nimrod Mbai (Kitui East) lamented that insecurity had affected development in the region and the socio-economic well-being of the people.
For instance, despite security being a function of the national government, Governor Malombe has been forced to use county funds to construct eight police stations along the volatile border, which were to be staffed by the National Police Service, to address the insecurity menace that hinders investment and development.
Town hall meetings
Two weeks ago, the CS embarked on a three-day tour of the three Lower Eastern counties of Kitui, Makueni and Machakos where he engaged with local communities on security and development issues, through his Jukwaa la Usalama initiative.
Mr Murkomen hosted town hall meetings in each of the three counties, after meeting regional security chiefs and other leaders, where residents were given a chance to ask questions to government officials on various issues.
Ukambani, specifically Kitui County, has endured a long-standing pastoral conflict with herders from North Eastern counties, which has claimed lives, every year.
Last month, he toured the Coast Region, spending a day each in the six counties of Mombasa, Kwale, Taita Taveta, Kilifi, Lamu and Tana River. Last week, he pitched tent in banditry-prone North Rift counties.
He promised a quick review of policy governing the deployment of police reservists to provide a command structure within their ranks for effective response to security incidents, and also retrain and remunerate appropriately.