Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has announced that the government will consider arming chiefs in some parts of the country.
Speaking during a stakeholders' meeting in Tana River County on Friday, April 11, Murkomen detailed that the government will be accessing the risk areas in the country where the lives of chiefs may be under threat from criminals.
He acknowledged that there were instances where chiefs were being threatened when they wanted to implement government policies.
After the assessment, the chiefs will then be taken for training before a license is issued.
"In areas where we see that the life of the chief is under threat, we shall take that chief to ATPC for training and give them a license so that they can protect themselves with guns," he stated.
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"We do not want our chiefs in frontier counties to be in danger because of the threat that comes from either within or out."
Further, he defended the move, explaining that even ordinary Kenyans were allowed to be gun licenced holders, especially in instances where their lives are under threat.
"Depending on the level of exposure and the area where they work, when they apply, there is some level of assessment, and that department is under my ministry, and I will ensure that there is fairness in that," the CS reiterated.
This is not the first time the government is considering arming chiefs. In 2022, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki (who was serving as Interior CS then) announced that the government would be training chiefs working in bandit-prone areas on how to operate guns.
“From today, all the chiefs and their assistants will be vetted, trained and armed, and they will work together with the National Police Reservists and special forces to end banditry and cattle rustling,” Kindiki remarked while visiting Baringo County.
