The government has vowed to increase its efforts in the fight against banditry in affected regions in the country.

Speaking on Saturday, Interior CS Kithure Kindiki who had visited Arabal in Baringo county said residents in affected areas will soon have a permanent solution.

He said that security personnel will deploy every possible response to ensure normalcy and a safe learning environment for all schools.

“I want to assure you that all the other schools affected will be reopened without exception, and they will never be closed again,” Kindiki said.

The CS warned that the government will use brutal force if they have to in order to see that the vice ends.

Kindiki added that security teams will pursue group-level and individual accountability for the violence that has claimed hundreds of lives and stunted socio-economic development in Baringo 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 called for patience from residents as security personnel intensify patrols and operations to stem out banditry.

Kindiki’s visit comes on the heels of an extensive operation jointly mounted by the Rift Valley multi-agency security team ahead of the start of the 2023 school calendar.

Banditry is one of the biggest challenges facing pastoralist communities in Kenya and the government has vowed to deal firmly with it.

In December last year, President William Ruto directed the Regional and County Security teams to see to it that all the schools reopen for Term One.