PS Kibicho Orders KDF to Dig Trenches at the Border

Interior PS Karanja Kibicho directed the Kenya Defence Forces to dig trenches along the Kenya-Ethiopia border to deter the entry of smugglers and traffickers. Kibicho gave the orders to the military as the chairperson of the Border Control and Operations Coordination Committee (BCOCC). BCOCC comprises of officials from the National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC), the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the Kenya Coast Guard Service (KCGS), the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). KDF embarked on the task, digging trenches and filling them with razor wires at the main border in Moyale.  A KDF excavator pictured at the Kenyan border with EthiopiaFile The committee identified the border as one of the major areas used by drug and human traffickers to ship in immigrants, contraband and firearms “The long-term goal is to safeguard our borders. To achieve this, we have to continue identifying and sealing off all illegal channels so that we can enable legitimate cross-border trade.”The National Government plans to engage the County security team and the border management committee here in Moyale to solve this escalating issue,” Wilson Njenga, Secretary for Internal Security (SIS) stated on Monday, September 21.The government plans to dig up to 50 kilometres of the 800-kilometres it shares with Ethiopia.A report published by the Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) on Wednesday, June 10, revealed that the National Government lost an estimated Ksh279 million to illicit trade each day in 2018.ACA released the findings of the National Baseline Survey on the extent of counterfeit and other forms of illicit trade in the country, showing a startling loss of government revenue to illegal trade activities.Kenya is also constructing a 700 km wall along the Kenya-Somalia border to limit militia movement. Kenya unveiled the plan after al-Shabaab insurgents attacked students at Garissa University on April 2, 2015.  A concrete wall constructed by KDF at the Kenya Somalia border as seen on May 10, 2016Facebook