Tuesday, July 05, 2016
Mandera governor Ali Roba wants the national government to recruit 900 Kenya Police Reservists in Mandera, Wajir and Garissa counties to fight Al-Shabaab.[Photo/standardmedia.co.ke]
Mandera governor Ali Roba has urged the national government to recruit 900 more Kenya Police Reservists in the North Eastern region.
He says this will help step up the fight against Al-Shabaab insurgents.
Condemning the twin bus attacks in El-wak that left six dead and eight others injured, Roba said the deployment of KPR was among the requests proposed to President Kenyatta by governors, senators, and legislators from the region.
Governor Roba had to cut short his scheduled Ramadhan trip to Saudi Arabia short following the attacks, noting that counties along the Somalia border should each have, at-least, 300 KPR officers to effect security patrols to curb Al-Shabaab from getting into the counties.
Although the government had offered enough security along the Mandera Highway, Roba stated that the personnel only patrolled major roads while the Al-Shabaab operated in the nearby bushes.
"It is very difficult to overcome these challenge of terror cells. This is why as North Eastern regional leaders we had earlier requested for 300 KPRs to be stationed in Garissa and Mandera to work under police and chiefs," Roba said.
He further said the reservists are to work in zones and reinforce security personnel who are evidently reluctant to conduct foot patrols due to lack of adequate knowledge of the local terrain.