Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet has denied claims that police officers deployed in Laikipia killed over 500 cows belonging to herders.
The herders are accused of illegally invading private ranches in the county.
According to Boinnet, the officers were largely focused on restoring law and order in the area.
The region has seen rising tension between the owners of the private ranches and the herders.
“It is probably the bandits who killed them and not ourselves,” the IG told journalists on Tuesday when asked if police officers were involved in the killings of the cows whose carcases were discovered on Monday.
Thousands of herders — some armed with spears, others with AK47s — have invaded private ranches and wildlife parks with their livestock, slaughtering animals and destroying property in central Kenya’s Laikipia, as they go in search of pasture in the drought stricken-country.
Elephants, lion, buffalo and zebra have been slaughtered by the herders who come with tens of thousands of livestock, and black and white landowners alike speak of invasions, fear and siege.
Local vernacular media have often reported that votes are being offered in exchange for land grabs.