Special crime squad to tame insecurity in Bungoma dispatched

By Robert Wanyonyi

Bungoma, Kenya: The government has dispatched a special homicide police squad to address cases of insecurity in Bungoma County.

Bungoma County Commissioner Maalim Mohammed said the squad has already started work in the area and will work hand in hand with their Kenya Police counterparts.

The team will also be joined by the County Security Committee in a move aimed at dealing with runaway crime.

Maalim also announced that 17 suspects linked with the killings at Kikwechi village in April this year have been arrested and are in police custody.

“The government is not taking any chances on the issue of security in this county and that’s why we now have a special squad from the homicide division to handle the matter,” he said, adding: “Criminals must be informed that their days are numbered and be advised to do beneficial activities instead of crime because we are not going to spare them,” warned Mohammed.

Among the first cases the new security team is investigating are the recent killings of a Bungoma lawyer, Peter Wanyama Wanyonyi, former Bungoma Town Clerk George Masinde, businessman Timothy Nyongesa in May and the Kikwechi villagers.

Maalim revealed that the special police squad has been allocated a sophisticated device known as the Locater.

The device helps to narrow down mobile phone usage and document cases where criminals and even members of the public use the phones as tools to issue threats, extort or plan crime.

He announced that there has been a drastic decline in criminal cases over the past two months as a result of measures put in place.

Lawlessness

He, however, regretted the recent killing of lawyer Wanyama that briefly cast the county back in the limelight because of lawlessness.

Maalim said cases of crime have reduced from 177 in June, 132 cases in July and 77 in September. He attributed the reduction to stringent security measures that have been introduced.

However, even as the government moves to wipe out the gangs that have been terrorising residents in the area, it is yet to make public findings of investigations into the spate of insecurity that resulted in loss of lives.

Many villages in Bungoma, Kakamega and Busia were attacked between April and July, when residents where slashed to death and their houses set ablaze.

The government and local leaders pointed fingers at each other, claiming the violence was politically instigated.