"Recruit bandits into national security organs"- security expert

Ex-Kenya Special Forces Officer cum security expert Byron Adera has proposed recruitment of bandits into the national security organs including the military.

Speaking on Wednesday during TV47's breakfast show MorningCafe, Adera acknowledged that a change of mindset could help curb banditry.

"We have to tell them that you guys can actually get employed. Some of you are sharpshooters... Someone can say why don't we recruit them impartially without asking them to sell all their cows so that they get a bit of money to bribe their way into the army or National Police Service?" Adera explained.

Dr. Nelson Sechere, Executive Director Kenya Veterans for Peace, weighed in saying that arrest and prosecution of the bandits, most of whom are young, was not a lasting solution.

"Can we have a group of people coming from these bandit-prone areas being taken to Mombasa to see how people live because their perception in life since they are born is not the same as youths who are thinking about technology," Dr Sechere added.

While giving a case study of reformed bandits, retired military officer Robert Mbukua noted that it was a source of livelihood for some.

"We started with those who were being reformed in 2007/8 and they told us that after burning a home they were given KSh10,000. When they bring the head of a human being they were given KSh5,000," Mbukua revealed.

In their conflict resolution strategy, the military veterans ordered the bandits to surrender their firearms in exchange of motorbikes as an alternative source of income.

Watch full interview here:

https://youtube.com/live/3ZH_9nN2jdM