President William Ruto has declared that the military will be deployed to West Pokot in two days for peacekeeping, especially around the schools in the area.

The head of state was speaking during the commissioning of the Cemtech Limited clinker plant in West Pokot, where he condemned the bandit attacks that have plagued the area.

“I want to say this while I'm in West Pokot. In the next two days, the army will be in Chesogon and will come there to ensure the schools are built. They will be there to ensure that when schools open next term, the children of those schools will be there,” said Ruto.

“It cannot be the case in the 21st century in Kenya, a democratic country, that children do not attend school because of the few offenders who want to steal cows and damage property.”

Ruto declared that any school that has been damaged would be repaired.

“If any school is damaged, we will build a new one to ensure our children return to school,” he uttered.

President Ruto’s pronouncement comes days after the Inspector General (IG) of police, Japhet Koome issued a warning to bandits conducting criminal activity in the country.

In a press statement issued on April 2, Koome warned bandits to stop their acts of violence or face the full force of the law.

“Let me be clear, that whether the resurgence of these attacks is attributed to retaliations among members of communities, or collaboration among communities to attack members of other communities, or be they targeted attacks on security personnel and installations, expansionist tendencies, or the commercialization of banditry as the case has been, my message to the bandits is one: stop or face the full force of the law,” reads the statement in part.

The IG stated that the National Police Service (NPS) has established resolutions to curb the increasing rate of banditry in the country, more so in the North Rift region.