Up to 279 people were killed in different cattle rustling-related incidents in the country in 2022.

A police report said 32 officers were also killed in the incidents.

Further, animals were stolen and either sold off or traded for cultural events.

This is among the issues that are now pushing the government to focus on the cattle rustling menace and employ different tactics to address it.

This year, so far more than 20 people have been killed in the incidents reported in parts of the North rift, Marsabit and Isiolo.

Dozens of animals were stolen and many were left with injuries in the period, police say.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the government will pursue financiers and beneficiaries of the cattle rustling menace which has led to deaths and mass displacement of hundreds of citizens.

He said the government is deploying a multi-faceted and multi-agency response.

He also warned that the government will pursue group-level and individual accountability for the violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and stunted socio-economic development in the region for decades.

“The government has declared banditry an existential threat to our country's future. We are going to move in and apply every human resource and weapon we have,” he said.

“We will get out all the armoury, we will go by land, we will go by air, we will follow them to wherever they go, and we are going to smoke them out of the caves and the forests.”

He said banditry has outlived previous regimes and called for patience from the residents as the security personnel intensify patrols and operations until permanent public protection and community safety are realized.

And as part of efforts to address the menace, a new commander for the National Police Reservists was last week named in fresh efforts to revamp the unit and bolster operations in cattle rustling-prone areas.

Former Eastern regional police commander Ronald Opili was tasked to take over the new unit consisting of more than 10,000 personnel.

The NPR formerly known as Kenya Police Reserve was formed in 1948 to assist the regular police in the maintenance of law and order.

They only exist in arid and semi-arid rural areas, particularly in Northern Kenya. The government plans to restore NPR in 14 counties that are prone to banditry.

Government officials hope they will help restore order in the area amid complaints from some quarters some of the personnel are involved in the crime they are supposed to fight.

Kindiki said the government will intensify its efforts to end decades of crime-related disruptions to schooling in the North Rift.

Kindiki declared that security personnel will deploy every possible response to ensure permanent normalcy and a safe learning environment across all the schools affected by banditry attacks.

The CS, who was addressing a public baraza in Arabal, Baringo, affirmed certainty and severity of punishment for the banditry attacks and announced that the state will pull all the stops, including the use of brute-force incapacitation, to make banditry a costly undertaking for the perpetrators and sponsors.

The visit comes on the heels of an extensive operation jointly mounted by the Rift Valley multi-agency security team in the lead-up to the start of the 2023 school calendar.

With backup from the recently deployed NPR, the team last week conducted “Operation Fungua Shule” in Chemorongion, Kapindasum, Mukutani and Arabal areas of Baringo.

President William Ruto directed the regional and county security teams to see to it that all the schools reopen for Term One.

Baringo is among the 14 counties in the expansive Rift Valley that have borne the brunt of drought and famine.

Besides retributive reaction, strategic investment and sustainable development have also taken a prominent place among the government’s planned crime control interventions for Kenya’s Northern frontier and the Kerio Valley belt.

According to Kindiki, the long-term vision is to empower the communities to actively take part in the war against animal rustling and undertake legitimate nation-building activities.

He said plans to distribute subsidised agricultural inputs and extension services to area residents in a bid to revive farming activities as a source of livelihood.

“We are coming to dismantle not only the criminals themselves but also to bring down the entire chain that has been the cattle and livestock rustling industry,” he said.

“We are rolling out an unprecedented response against criminals and we are going to go to their hideouts, we will look for the criminals and do to them what the law says we do to criminals under the law of our country and all other applicable international laws.”

Kindiki said the government will conduct a sustained security response to get rid of the criminals in the country.