Homa Bay County Commissioner (CC) Moses Lilan has warned that the government will crack down on goons who styled as hirelings for some politicians in parts of the county.

He said the criminal gangs were responsible for incidences of insecurity in the county

Lilan said they will not allow anybody irrespective of their positions to disrupt peace in the county.

Speaking at Papkalango in Rangwe constituency during Madaraka day celebrations yesterday, the CC said they have already profiled criminal gangs and will soon raid their dens.

He stressed they will not allow criminal gangs to operate in the county adding that some criminal activities were fueled by politicians.

Lilan at the same time said the county security team was conducting a crackdown on vandals of electricity transformers in the county.

He said a team of police officers have been assigned the duty of tracing lost transformers and arrest suspects.

‘We have had frequent power outages due to vandalism of electricity transformers but I can assure
you that their days are numbered, they will face the full force of the law,’ he said.

The administrator said it was regrettable that some parts of the county have been without power due to criminal activities of siphoning oil from transformers.

Mr Lilan said the latest case of vandalism was reported in Rangwe Town and another in Omoya area.

He said vandalism of transformers was an act of terrorism and economic sabotage.

‘Putting communities into darkness for weeks and even months is economic sabotage,’ Mr Lilan said.

The administrator told village elders to safeguard all transformers within their areas of jurisdiction through nyumba kumi.

He also directed chiefs to strengthen community policing in their areas of jurisdiction.

‘Members of the public should cooperate with police by sharing information to weed out criminals in the illegal business,’ Mr Lilan said.

He said the government had cordoned off at least 50 acres of land in Gwassi forest where some criminals had been using to grow bhang.

He said
this was part of government’s effort to fight drug abuse.

Mr Lilan said security personnel in the county have so far destroyed more than 5000 litres of changaa.

‘We have also closed down 148 alcohol outlets which were non-compliant. No bar in the county should operate for 24 hours’ he said.

Homa Bay County Deputy Governor Joseph Oyugi Magwanga who represented Governor Gladys Wanga outlined some of the achievements the county government has made over the past months.

He asked the county residents to support the county government in order for it to deliver on their pledges.

Rangwe MP Dr. Lilian Who was also present in the celebrations called on the security team to address cases of insecurity in her constituency.

She cited an incident in which a secondary school teacher at Bhakita Girls secondary school was killed by unknown criminals on May 19.

She called on police to increase vigilance within the constituency saying her office will offer support.

Source: Kenya News Agency