Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has directed the immediate recruitment and deployment of chiefs and assistant chiefs to newly created administrative units in Samburu County as the government steps up efforts to tackle insecurity in the region.
Speaking during a church service in Maralal Ward, Samburu County on Sunday, Murkomen ordered the County Commissioner to conclude interviews for the positions within a week to allow successful candidates to be deployed immediately.
“I have ordered that all the locations that the government had gazetted previously be made public, and I am ordering the County Commissioner to fast-track the interview process of the Chiefs and the Sub-Chiefs to be done by this week, so that by next week, all the qualified candidates will be stationed in the newly zoned locations,” Murkomen said.
The move follows the establishment of new administrative units, including Samburu West Sub-county with Loosuk as its headquarters, under a 2024 government reorganisation aimed at improving service delivery and enhancing security in remote areas.
Murkomen said strengthening local administration would improve the government’s response to banditry and cattle rustling incidents that have continued to affect parts of Samburu and the wider North Rift region.
The Interior CS also announced the deployment of additional Kenya Police Reservists and the return of the Special Operations Group (SOG), an elite police unit tasked with combating organised crime and banditry.
He warned residents against possessing illegal firearms and accused some politicians of fuelling insecurity by allegedly arming youths in affected areas.
The directives come as the government intensifies security operations across Samburu, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet and West Pokot counties, where recurring bandit attacks have displaced families and claimed lives.
Samburu is considered deadly for banditry due to its harsh, rugged terrain that favors ambushes, the proliferation of illegal, sophisticated automatic firearms, and the evolution of traditional cattle rustling into heavily armed, organized criminal enterprises.
Criminals frequently target main transit routes, such as the Maralal-Baragoi road.
Heavily armed bandits lay ambushes on commercial vehicles, buses carrying civilians, and security personnel, making travel deadly.