Coast regional coordinator Nelson Marwa has poked holes into the ongoing multi-agency security operation at Boni forest.
Operation Linda Boni Forest was launched by the late Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery in September 2015 as a strategy to flush out al Shabaab militants.
The group, however, has executed persistent attacks targeting locals, a situation Marwa said shows the operation doesn’t seem to be achieving its objective.
Marwa said it was worth questioning that despite the existence of security forces in Lamu and its environs, nothing has changed to warrant residents’ safety.
He spoke in a meeting with security chiefs and residents at a hotel in Lamu town on Sunday.
The administrator said it was defeating that the militants still kill locals and flee back into the same forest which is a major operation zone.
He warned officers conducting the Linda Boni operation led by director Joseph Kanyiri that they will be reshuffled if they fail to up their game.
Marwa said the security lapses are an act of laxity on the part of the officers conducting the operation.
“We will not tolerate such lapses at the expense of people’s lives.”
He cited the recent beheading of four men at Silini and Bobo villages last Wednesday.
“The attack could have been prevented if the police had acted on the information given to them by locals,” he said.
He said it was wrong for police to ignore any potential threat whenever they are tipped by locals as it could result in untold misery.
Marwa has also asked for the investigations into the conduct of all officers conducting the Linda Boni operation,
“Most of them are lazy and incapable of doing their work,” he said.
“The government is investing heavily into the Linda Boni operation and that’s why there is need to see results.”
Marwa said the Boni enclave has sufficient resources to secure Kenyans right from the border of Holugho, Kulbiyow, Ghalmagala down to Kiunga.
“How then do the Alshabaab find their way past our forces who are supposed to be in all these places, get into villages, kill people and go back?”
“I wonder why most of the aircrafts meant for this operation are just lying in the bases instead of being put out there to patrol this places,” he said.
The security chief asked the officers manning the area to furnish him with a report on the lapses for further action.
