New technology can help us to wipe out bandits

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.