Slain General Service Unit officer Ben Brian Macharia was on Friday laid to rest in an emotional send off at Kimanda village, Kianderi sub-location Location, Kirinyaga Central Sub County.
Leaders, relatives and friends paid their last tributes to the late officer describing him as a dedicated and hardworking youth with a bright future. The General Service Unit (GSU) officer met his death in line of duty in Turkana East on Saturday, September 24.
Macharia, 22, was one of the eight security officers, two civilians and one chief who met their untimely deaths late last week after they were ambushed by armed bandits in Turkana. Out of the eight security officers who died in the attack, two officers: Benson Brian Macharia and Boniface Muthii hailed from Kirinyaga County.
The officer joined the discipline forces two years ago and graduated from training school-Embakasi in December 2021.
In his tribute, GSU Commandant Douglas Kanja, through his representative superintendent Julius Njeru said they have lost a young officer whose services were much needed in the force.
“We have lost a young dedicated and gallant officer, whose services were much required by the General Service Unit and National Police Service at large,” Njeru said.
In line with the tradition of mourning a departed soldier, officers drawn from the GSU honoured their late colleague with a 21 gun salute.
Area Member of Parliament Gachoki Gitari pleaded with the discipline forces not to send junior officers to high risk missions. He said they should be given duties gradually till they could be sent to such operations.
“I request the management of our men in uniform not to send the junior officer to such missions. They should be trained first until they acquire enough experience to perform such operations,” he said.
“We may not know the protocols and organization of GSU but they are losing some officers who could have offered much to the nation,” Gachoki added.
County Women Rep Jane Njeri Maina urged the government to give sophisticated equipment to officers to deal with bandits. “We are calling upon the government to equip our officers with necessary arsenal,” she said.
“Because we are part of leadership, we shall do what is possible to ensure the police get all resources to be safe so that all are safe,” she said.
In addition, she expressed hope that the government would also sort out the challenges facing the service such as mental health and poor remuneration.
Senator James Kamau called on the president to send officers from Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) to deal with bandits once and for all.
He said the insecurity in North Rift keeps recurring annually and the country could not wait to lose more officers. He added that the bandits were like Al Shaabab and the president should allow the KDF deal with them.
“These people are killing like Al Shaabab. We request the president to send the Kenya Defense Forces to deal with them.”
