500 000 illegal arms in circulation

 500 000 Illegal arms in circulation
The Kenyan Government has today Wednesday,June 20 sounded an alarm that almost 500 000 illegal arms are in circulation in the country with much of it feared to be in the hands of criminals.

While receiving a report on the national arms  mapping and survey exercise at Harambee house,acting Internal Security Permanent Secretary Mr.Mutea Iringo said that some of this arms have escalated conflicts among the pastoralists communities and at the same time increased armed activities in the urban areas.

Iringo noted that the proliferation of illicit arms and light weapons continues to pose a major security challenge in East African economic tiger nation which has greatly affected the development growth in the  country where the poverty level continue to rise at an alarming rate.

Kenya which borders the troubled Somali state where the Al-Shabaab fighters are being fought by a combined force of the African Mission forces in Somalia (AMISOM) whose troops were also enlisted in the AMISOM has suffered a series of attacks and criminal acts due to inflitration of illegal arms from the lawless nation of Somalia.

During the 2007 Kenya  disputed elections atleast 1 600 people were killed and 500 000 families uprooted from their homes in different parts of the country whose security experts in the country attribute to some of the causes not only politics but as a result of arms in wrong people`s hands and the coalition Government has taken up necessary measures to prevent an act of this nature as the country prepares for the General election in March next year.