Where are Uhuru’s armoured vehicles meant to protect Kenyan officers? – Nairobi News

What became of the 30 Armoured Personal Carriers and 25 Mine Resistance Carriers handed to the Kenya Police Service by President Uhuru Kenyatta three years ago?

This is the question that has remained unanswered in the wake of endless attacks on Kenyan police officers by suspected militants.

The latest of these attacks was executed on Saturday morning by suspected Al-Shabaab militants in Konton area, Wajir County.

The incident left at least 10 Administrative Police Officers dead.

IED-RELATED ATTACKS

In the last two years alone, at least four such incidents have been reported, with more than 25 officers left dead in Improvised Explosive Devices-related attacks.

In June 2018, eight officers died after their Land Rover ran over an IED in Wajir County.

Then in August 2018 several police officers were reported injured after vehicle ran over an IED in Lamu County,

The last two incidents this month have claimed at least 10 more lives.

Many of the officers, who survived these attacks, have been left injured and maimed.

FIGHTING TERRORISM

All this has happened despite the purchase of the cars by government, through the tax payers’money.

In 2017, President Kenyatta termed acquisition of the armoured carriers as a major milestone in Kenya’s fight against terrorism, adding that the Armoured Personal Carriers would reduce police dependence on the military and ensure swift response to attacks inside the country’s borders.

The carriers were lauded as being capable of withstanding explosions from land mines and IEDs, which for many years have been very common in the vast North Eastern region of Kenya.