Interior Cabinet Secretary Professor Kithure Kindiki says the crackdown on Nairobi’s criminal gangs and muggers is not ending anytime soon.
CS Kindiki noted that in the two weeks since the government declared war on the city’s miscreants, cases of insecurity and mugging have gone down.
Speaking on Monday, the CS said police will intensify the crackdown in criminal hideouts.
“If you think that you have enough weapons, you have enough tactics to counter the government, I want to assure you that you have dialled the wrong number. We will be looking for you in your hideouts, we will not even wait for you to attack people. We will pre-empt attacks,” Kindiki stated.
The CS spoke after a brief walk-through within the Nairobi CBD to assess the security situation.
“The report we have so far is that for the past week, normalcy has returned. We have not heard reported crimes, especially around muggings and people being attacked with firearms and knives,” he noted.
According to Kindiki, the traders and Kenyans he interacted with said that there has been calm since the government declared war against the criminals.
He warned criminals in Nairobi and across the country who are still terrorising Kenyans to reform before security teams catch up with them.
“I want to firmly and unequivocally confirm and warn that crime does not pay, and that is why the government is doing whatever it takes to ensure that the citizens are protected from criminals,” he said.
CS Kindiki also said police patrols during daytime and night would continue even after the Christmas holidays.
“We are not leaving anytime soon. We will maintain a presence in our streets throughout so that people can do business. We cannot surrender this city or this country to criminals. The government will not allow criminals to run roughshod on citizens and I’m asking all those who are still not converted, those who are still pursuing crime, they must stop immediately because we are coming to you wherever you are and this operation is not ending anytime soon,” he said.
The Interior CS insisted that the government would not negotiate with ciminals.
“The only area that we are not going to discuss is the criminals. Gangs and criminals we are not going to discuss with them, we have no conversations with them, we will just do what the law requires us to do and we will put them where the law says criminals must be,” CS Kindiki said.
