Kenya sets alight illicit arm stockpile
Deputy President William Ruto has called on Kenyans who have unlicensed firearms to voluntary surrender them to the authorities before the law catches up with them.
According to statistics provided by the Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons, there are about 650,000 arms in the wrong hands, which poses a serious security threat to the country.
The Deputy President was speaking on Tuesday at the Ngong Traffic Police training school where he oversaw the destruction of more than 5,000 arms, majority of which were voluntary surrendered to police over the past 5 years.
“It is the responsibility of government agencies and Kenyans is to ensure there is peace in this country. We have about 5,250 illicit firearms set to be destroyed… most of these firearms were voluntarily surrendered while some are from violent criminals that were recovered by our security personnel and others from or disarmament programs,” the Deputy President said.
“It is very important for all of us to know that the destruction of the illicit firearms is important because their continued presence in the hands of wrong people continues to violate our peace and stability becoming a threat to the security of our country.”
The arms included pistols and G3 rifles seized from criminals in Nairobi, while others were voluntarily surrendered to police from Rift Valley.
According to statistics provided by the Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons, there are about 650,000 arms in the wrong hands, which poses a serious security threat to the country.
The Deputy President was speaking on Tuesday at the Ngong Traffic Police training school where he oversaw the destruction of more than 5,000 arms, majority of which were voluntary surrendered to police over the past 5 years.
“It is the responsibility of government agencies and Kenyans is to ensure there is peace in this country. We have about 5,250 illicit firearms set to be destroyed… most of these firearms were voluntarily surrendered while some are from violent criminals that were recovered by our security personnel and others from or disarmament programs,” the Deputy President said.
“It is very important for all of us to know that the destruction of the illicit firearms is important because their continued presence in the hands of wrong people continues to violate our peace and stability becoming a threat to the security of our country.”
The arms included pistols and G3 rifles seized from criminals in Nairobi, while others were voluntarily surrendered to police from Rift Valley.