Kapedo APs had served for only six months

Nine of the officers shot dead in Kapedo had only been in the police service for six months, while five had worked for just two years.

Only three of the officers had served for more than seven years. The longest serving officer was AP Constable Edward Ekeno, who had served for 25 years, while Serjeant Lukas Lorengo and Constable Ekeno Eduko had worked for 24 years.

Records from the Administration Police headquarters also indicate that all the three officers who survived had served in the service for less than two years.

They have been identified as Constable Francis Mathai, who had served for two years and Constables Livingston Karunga and Zachary Mugendi both of who had been in the service for six months.

Most of the officers killed were not only new in the service but were also not familiar with the region.

As a rule, senior officers assigning the juniors duties are supposed to ensure that they are properly armed, depending on the area of work and anticipated threat.

The officers are expected to know the ground to watch, the possible direction of enemy approach, and how to sound the alarm and alert the other colleagues.

In the Kapedo case, however, most of the officers were there for the first time.

Meanwhile, President Kenyatta has been asked to withdraw the military from Kapedo.

“There is absolutely no justification for the deployment of the military on a defenceless population. The indiscriminate and wholesale punishment of a section of the population of the Turkana people is itself unconstitutional,” Homa Bay Senator Otieno Kajwang’ said on Wednesday.

At the same time, Senator John Lonyangapuo (West Pokot, Kanu) has denied claims that he was behind the current insecurity at Kapedo.

He said it was wrong to link him with the conflicts when he has been appealing for a lasting solution to the perennial clashes.