NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 6 — In September last year, at the height of the Laikipia conflict, reports emerged that bandits wreaking havoc in the area were using highly sophisticated weapons, more powerful and lethal than those owned by Kenyan law enforcement agencies.
Security agencies named the M16 rifle, a lightweight, 5.56 mm, air-cooled, gas-operated, magazine-fed assault rifle, as one of the weapons that the criminal gangs in Laikipia were using to terrorize the residents.
“These bandits have heavy weaponry, M16, most of which are used by the foreign forces training in the area. How they find their way into the hands of common Mwananchi is hard to understand because our police officers only have AK47s, G3 amongst other rifles. M16 is not among the police issued guns. I wonder where these guns are coming from,” former Rift Valley Regional Commissioner George Natembeya said during one of his security briefings.
The revelation puzzled many Kenyans who sought to understand how such weapons were making their way into the country.
Security experts and rights activists participating in a recent virtual meeting organized by Counter Terrorism Policing — Kenya suggested the answer might be hidden in plain sight.
They observed the ongoing conflicts in Kenya’s neighboring countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia and South Sudan could be among the factors driving proliferation of illegal arms in the country.
The participants pointed out the illicit flow of arms is fueling insecurity and crime in some parts of Kenya, notably North Rift and the North Eastern region.
Karanja Muraya, an Executive Director of Social Welfare Development Programme (SOWED) Kenya, attributed the situation to the vast porous borders in the country and poor policing.
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“We are bordering some of these countries and there isn’t controlled access of firearms and transportation of these firearms across the borders and also poor policing in parts of Kenya, especially the Northern parts of Kenya and weak governance structure,” he said
Muraya noted that the spread of small arms and light weapons in the country is an enabling factor for organized and transnational crimes, including terrorism.
Hassan Abdikadir, Country Programs Director at Accept International Kenya, a Japanese based organization tasked with rehabilitation of al Shabaab returnees, pointed out that there is also the financial motivation behind the suppliers of the illegal arms, especially from the conflict zone areas.
“Looking at the Northern Frontier District and the conflict zones from the Rift Valley areas, these are where most of these illegal firearms come from and you will find even there is a cartel behind transportation and selling of these illegal firearms. It is more of willing buyer and willing seller,” he said.
Linda Chepkwony, a Conflict Analyst at the African Union’s (AU) Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) on the other hand attributed the proliferation of guns to the collusion of criminal gangs with police officers who hire guns from them and the criminal networks operating along the border points.
She further said that some illegal weapons can also be acquired from online sources due to advanced technology which cushion them from being flagged by security agencies.
“We have sites like dark web where most people can order for guns online which get delivered to them anonymously,” she said.
Another panelist, Zeynab Mghoi, a police officer, said that some of the arms make their way into the country when rebels from conflict zones decide to sell them for financial gain.
“If we look at Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, we can see that the impoverished rebels who are fighting for these countries or those who fought and are changing their ways selling these guns to our country as a source of income,” Mghoi stated.
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She also attributed the state of affairs to the homemade guns which she said are normally made by the Juakali sector using easily accessible materials such as bolts and metal sheets.
Alvin Michira from the African Center for Intelligence and Security, which reports and monitor on violent extremists in the region, noted that despite Kenya having strict gun regulations, the country is still witnessing uncontrolled entry and circulation of small arms and light weapons.
He pointed out that a recent study revealed that that there are at least about 608,000 illicit weapons in the country.
“The three major things that have been highlighted as the causes of the flow of illicit weapons is corruption, the porous borders and what experts call lack of alternative economic ventures,” Michira said.
On April 5, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said the influx of illegal firearms in areas prone to violence especially the North Rift region of Baringo and Laikipia has been linked to the never-ending conflict in the war-torn zones.
Appearing before National Assembly Security Committee, Matiangi attributed this to the political instability in the neighboring countries which makes it easy for bandits to access weapons.
“We are spending 25 percent of our general policing resources, the question is, have we been able to deal with this assignment, no? We have ongoing court cases of leaders who we have arrested and active prosecuting cases in court who are mostly MPs,” he said.
Matiangi however pointed out that there is need to look into the character of every conflict as they have been propelled by different reasons including political competition, land conflict or even fight for resources.
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