NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The killing of police officers in northern Kenya suggests the government is losing control of internal security, a lawmaker said Wednesday.
Adan Keynan, chairman of a parliamentary defense committee, said the central government should have sent special units, instead of Kenyan defense forces, to northern Samburu County to deal with cattle rustlers.
More than 40 policemen were killed this week, along with three attackers, when authorities tried to seize stolen cattle in Rift Valley province. A religious elder told the BBC this week the situation was "very, very tense."
Keynan said he was concerned that security forces aren't up to the task.
"Action should be taken against those sleeping on their job," he was quoted by the Daily Nation newspaper in Kenya as saying. "If the police could be killed by bandits, it shows Kenyans are no longer safe."
The Kenyan Parliament voted in September to send military forces to the Tana Delta region to respond to ethnic fighting that left more than 100 people dead. Following 2007 elections, more than 1,000 people were killed in fighting between supporters of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki and those of rival Raila Odinga.
