Interior Security ministry has resumed registration of illegal firearms held by locals at the volatile Garissa-Isiolo border, with at least three herders surrendering their AK47 rifles to the regional security agencies.
During the latest exercise conducted at Duse Livestock Market, elders from the Borana Community faulted the security operatives for branding their guns as being illegal.
According to Halkano Huka, who is a Borana elder, members of their community acquired the guns legally and that they have ever used them to perpetrate any criminal activities.
Halkano added that they had also voluntarily presented the rifles for registration, and so they expect to be allowed to have them since they only use them to protect their community and their livestock from external aggressors.
The elder reiterated that as long as the government does not put up a police post in the expansive Duse area, they will always be at the risk of being attacked by bandits.
Ironically, he insisted that the community should be allowed to have additional guns instead if disarming them.
Another community elder, Hussein Roba, questioned why only the Borana herders in Isiolo were surrendering their firearms while their neighbors from Garissa, Meru and Samburu Counties were not doing the same.