The government through the Ministry of Interior has recovered over 14,000 illegal guns in under two years, Fred Matiang’i has said.
Speaking during the launch of the Excellence Charter developed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), the Interior CS said his ministry had also recovered 400,000 rounds of ammunition in the same duration.
“In two years alone, we have collected close to 14,000 guns and over 400,000 bullets from wrong hands,” he said.
Matiang’i at the same time noted that the spike in criminal activities such as ‘wash wash’ was driven by individuals’ need to lead expensive lifestyles.
“Because we’ve become intensely materialistic, people are running money laundering rackets that have been undercover for a very long time,” he stated.
The CS called upon members of the public to step up into a more active role in fighting white-collar crime.
“All these people who are running wash wash activities and money laundering in estates, and the characters who are trying to abduct kids live in our midst. It is very helpful for the public to be conscious of the rising levels of crime,” said Matiang’i.
He added: “We have already created a new cadre of police officers, all of them graduate trainees, who are currently undertaking a one-year training programme and will graduate as cadet police officers drawn from various fields. When we go into new ground of working on crime like cybersecurity, we will have the capability to be of more value to the ODPP.”
Matiang’i praised the Charter as a greater commitment by the ODPP to advance inter-agency collaboration towards achieving excellence in complex litigation and emerging crimes.
“The launch of the Excellence Charter is a new ground that you have broken. You have immediately thrown a challenge to all of us. You are now blazing the trail, and we need to follow suit and develop a similar culture of excellence.
“Agreeing to develop an accountability framework is the first admission by the ODPP that they are ready and willing to serve in a modern way and in line with the demands of our time,” Matiang’i observed.
The Excellence Charter seeks to drive fundamental reforms in public prosecution over the next three years (2020-2023).
