The bandits who ride roughshod over large swathes of some parts of this country are convinced that they are invisible. And it is hard to doubt them going by the kind of havoc they have wreaked for decades and the apparent inability of the police to rein them in.
It is clear they do not respect or even fear the government and they seem to believe that they have got the upper hand. Some people are now convinced that their acts are meant to mock the government; to prove that they call the shots.
The killing of three police officers by bandits in Turkana County at the weekend, days after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki wound up his tour of the North Rift region is being seen in that context. Prof Kindiki reiterated the government's determination to get rid of the menace during his tour.
The banditry menace will linger for much longer if police officers do not change tact - and the government seems to have realised that. Prof Kindiki might just win this protracted war if he banks on technology as he has promised to.
Technology should be at the heart of the war against bandits. That is the best way to defeat these miscreants. Kenya should borrow a leaf from Ukraine where forbidding columns of Russian tanks have on several occasions been decimated by tiny bomb-bearing Ukrainian drones.
We must appreciate that the bandits are war-hardened and understand their territories like the back of their hands unlike the security officers most who are posted impulsive to battle them. Fortunately, they lack the advantage of modern surveillance equipment. That is what the police should use to win this war once and for all.
The government should invest in multiple drones, with the potential to drop bombs, which should be deployed in troubled areas. The drones, and other surveillance aircraft, should continuously watch over suspected bandits' hideouts and routes. That way, police will act based on what they can see and avoid being sitting ducks for the enemy.
