Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) today, September 8, 2021, raided the home of former Laikipia North Member of Parliament, Mathew Lempurkel.
He was nabbed by the sleuths at his house in Rongai, Kajiado County and taken to the DCI headquarters along Kiambu Road for questioning.
According to reports, the former ODM legislator was arrested in relation to the unrest in Laikipia County where a number of people have lost their lives and properties damaged due to the rising insecurity.
File image of former Laikipia North MP Mathew Lempurkel. |Photo| Courtesy|
The arrest comes after Rift Valley Regional Commander George Natembeya announced that four people have died due to the unrest in parts of Laikipia County.
"Four people have lost their lives. Three among them are police officers and this was before we began the operation to arrest the situation," Natembeya stated.
On September 6, 2021, the National Security Council held a meeting to deliberate on the deteriorating state of security in parts of Laikipia County especially the area around the Laikipia Nature Conservancy and its environs.
Ministry of Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i in a statement after the meeting noted that insecurity in the region was on the rise, owing to the rampant cases of cattle rustling.
NSC stated that the rustling was as a result of competition for water and pastures between the neighbouring communities. They also highlighted the increase in illegal gun ownership as a contributing factor to the rising insecurity.
The Laikipia Nature Conservancy and its environs were declared a disturbed area and therefore a security operation zone. The entire region was placed under a dusk to dawn curfew, in an attempt to curb the rising insecurity in the county.
"A security operation commences immediately to flush out all the illegal occupants of the Laikipia Nature Conservancy and its environs with a dusk (6 pm) to dawn (6 am) curfew being declared with immediate effect," the statement read in part.
"All leaders including politicians, public officers, businessmen and others who have illegally moved their livestock into the conflict zone to remove the same from there within the next 48 hours," the statement added.
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