Sunday, July 6, 2014
Deputy President William Ruto consoles Mama Odipo one of the homes that was torched by the attackers in Hindi, Lamu County. He gave top security officials Kimaiyo included 48hrs to arrest attackers or quit. PICTURE REBECCA NDUKU/DPPS
Deputy President William Ruto has given
security agencies 48 hours to flush out attackers who killed eleven
people on Saturday night at Lamu.
"The security team
must get these criminals, starting from Inspector General David
Kimaiyo to the police constable down here...these people must be
arrested," said Ruto.
Addressing a public gathering at
Hindi Trading centre in Lamu, Mr Ruto said that deputy inspector general
in charge of administration police Samuel Arachi will oversee the
operation until all attackers are flushed out of the forest either dead
or alive.
“It is impossible in the independent Kenya to
have criminals and terrorists coming and killing innocent people. We
have given instructions to security officers to ensure the criminals are
brought to book alive or dead, ”Mr Ruto said.
He noted
that he has left CID, NIS and other police chiefs in a meeting to
strategize on how they would arrest the criminals hiding in the forest
within the next 48 hours.
He noted that the government
will take an elaborate action to ensure the criminals who perpetrated
violence in Mpeketoni, Poromoko , Witu and Hindi attacks are brought to
book.
Accused the Cord coalition
Mr Ruto accused the Cord coalition of allegedly dividing the country along ethnic and religious lines.
“We
want to tell our friends they cannot blackmail us. They should wait
until next elections because it is impossible to ascend to power at this
time. There will be a government of the people and by the people,” he
added further stressing that Kenyans want to live as indivisible and
united country.
He appealed to the farmers who are
fleeing their homes not to do so adding that the government will put in
place adequate security measures to ensure they are safe.
The
Deputy President said that all leaders should be accountable for what
they say and do and those who want to ascend to leadership through
backdoor should wait until 2017.
Ruto also visited the
scene where eleven people were murdered and held a four hour security
meeting with Lamu leaders and security officers.
Interior
security Cabinet Secretary Joseph Ole Lenku assured locals that police
will do all within their power to deal with attackers.
Issa Timmamy
Tana
River governor Hussein Dhadho who also chairs a security meeting in the
governors council urged Kenyans not to allow themselves to be divided
along religious and ethnic lines.
Lamu Governor Issa
Timmamy and his deputy Eric Mugo also addressed the gathering and called
for drastic measures from the national on the matter of insecurity in
the county.
But Lamu Senator Abu Chiaba and Women
representative Shakila Abdalla decried the slow responses by security
agencies to pursue the criminals.
“The government
should show action instead of rhetoric. They have the capacity to deal
with these criminals. They should go to the forest and arrest them.”
Lamu West MP Julius Ndegwa called for calm among the locals saying the government will handle the situation.
“This is a criminal act and has nothing to do with religion,” the MP said.
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