Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’ has questioned the government’s focus on international security missions, saying it should also give priority to addressing deadly bandit attacks that continue to claim lives in the country.

Speaking in the Senate, Kajwang’ said Kenya must first guarantee the safety of its own citizens before deploying officers to stabilise other countries, in an apparent reference to the recent return of police officers from Haiti.

“Speaker, charity must begin at home,” Kajwang’ said.

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“Yesterday, our very valiant policemen and women came back from Haiti, where they went and contained gun violence. But you cannot be fixing Haiti if you cannot fix problems back in Kenya, Mr Speaker."

His remarks come days after seven people were killed in Tseikuru subcounty, Mwingi North, when about 40 heavily armed bandits stormed Kwa Kamari Trading Centre in a daytime raid.

The attackers, armed with automatic rifles and machetes, struck on April 25 and opened fire on residents.

Six men and one woman were killed, while another man sustained gunshot wounds and is receiving treatment at Tseikuru Level IV Hospital.

According to Tseikuru Deputy County Commissioner Ann Mwangi, the assailants are believed to have crossed into the Mwingi North Game Reserve to graze camels before launching the attack.

They reportedly arrived in two unmarked Probox vehicles.

Mwangi said the bodies, which had gunshot wounds and deep machete injuries, were taken to the Kyuso Level IV Hospital morgue. The gang also torched three shops, a petrol station and a motorcycle.

Authorities suspect the killings are linked to retaliatory attacks between pastoralist groups and local residents in the volatile border area near the game reserve.

“It is retaliation after a herder from one community killed a herder from another in the game park. This appears to be a counterattack,” Mwangi said.

Following the attack, residents fled their homes for fear of further violence, with farms and shops abandoned as families sought refuge in nearby bushland.

“These people are ruthless. They arrived and, within about an hour, seven people were dead,” resident Kilonzo Mughi said.

In the Senate, Kajwang’ warned against normalising such killings as cultural or tribal conflicts.

“Seven lives is too many,” he said.

“Not too far back, in the county of my friend here, the Senator from Turkana, 42 people were killed. And every time they are killed, they are called tribal warfare or cultural practices. Mr Speaker, this is crime.”

He argued that the right to life, as enshrined in the constitution, must be protected by the state without discrimination.

“There’s an imagined theory in this country that if you want action from the national government, kill a politician. If you want action, beat up a politician. If you want action, raid the property of a politician. That’s when action will be taken,” Kajwang’ said.

“The right to life that is enshrined in this constitution, that right must be guaranteed by the state, failure to which Kenya shall revert back to the right to self-defence.”

“We cannot export security while insecurity reigns in our own villages,” he said, urging the state to act decisively against banditry and ensure the safety of all Kenyans.

His comments came a day after the final contingent of 150 National Police Service officers deployed to Haiti under the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support mission returned to the country.

The officers arrived at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Tuesday after serving under challenging conditions to support the Haitian National Police in restoring public order and protecting civilians amid entrenched gang violence.