Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has announced plans to establish a training base for the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and National Police Service (NPS) in the Kerio Valley to restore peace. The initiative, approved by President William Ruto, will begin in January 2026. It aims to address banditry through permanent measures rather than temporary ones.
Amid rising tensions in the Kerio Valley, the government has introduced a new security approach. On Thursday, December 25, 2025, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen announced that from January 2026, the government will begin setting up training grounds for various forces, including the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), in the region. According to Murkomen, these grounds, already approved by President William Ruto, will serve both the KDF and the National Police Service (NPS), which will collaborate to ensure security.
"As part of the efforts to make this peace, we shall be establishing permanent security installations of different nature, either an operational base for some of the formed up units," the CS said on Thursday, December 25.
"We will establish here a new training ground, whereby the way people go to Kiganjo for training, they can also come here. The president himself has already given direction on how we will establish training bases for the security teams in this region," he added.
The main reason for creating these institutions is to find a lasting solution to the ongoing banditry problem, rather than relying on temporary measures as in the past. Murkomen emphasized the importance of local residents cooperating with security agencies to eliminate banditry.
"I commended members of the community for their cooperation with the Government, which has been instrumental in the restoration of peace and tranquillity in the Kerio Valley region. Unlike in the past, residents were able to enjoy the Christmas festivities without any security concerns," Murkomen said in Marakwet East on Friday, December 26.
This announcement comes days after the CS declared 14 parts of Trans Mara as disturbed areas following a series of violent clashes that left several people dead and hundreds displaced. In a Gazette Notice dated December 19, 2025, Murkomen listed areas such as Kilgoris, Ang'ata Barrikoi, Lolgorian town, and others in Narok County as security-disturbed and dangerous.
The government has made progress in tackling clashes, including disarmament exercises, but the threat persists, particularly because bandits show little fear of National Police Reservists (NPRs). Recently, a disarmament operation recovered 1,000 illegal firearms, which has significantly reduced banditry activities.
In a statement on Saturday, December 20, Deputy Inspectors General of Police Eliud Lagat and Gilbert Masengeli announced a 30-day dusk-to-dawn curfew in Trans Mara East and South, following the latest wave of clashes.
