Kenya's President William Ruto has reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to combating insecurity and criminality, overseeing the destruction of more than 6,000 illicit firearms at the National Police Leadership Academy in Ngong’ on June 14, 2025.
The weapons, seized between 2022 and 2025, were recovered from criminal gangs, rogue security officers, and smuggling routes—mainly in northern and urban Kenya.
The Kenyan leader said their destruction sends a strong signal to arms traffickers and rogue operatives.
“Our resolve to eliminate insecurity in our communities is unwavering,” Ruto declared. “Kenya must not become a corridor for the flow of tools of death. The destruction of these weapons sends a clear message: we will not tolerate lawlessness.”
Ruto also acknowledged growing public concern over misconduct within the police force, vowing to take decisive action against officers who break the law.
“We commit to protect Kenyans from rogue police officers,” he said. “Criminal elements in uniform must be held to account.”
Security analysts have long cited Kenya’s porous border with Somalia—a country plagued by decades of civil conflict, terrorism, and warlordism—as a major entry point for illegal arms. Smuggled firearms often flow through Mandera, Garissa, and Wajir counties before reaching other regions.
The Small Arms Survey has linked illicit weapons to a surge in crimes, from cattle rustling and banditry in northern Kenya to urban gang violence in cities such as Nairobi and Mombasa.
President Ruto’s remarks underscore Kenya’s renewed commitment to international arms control frameworks, including the Nairobi Protocol and the African Union’s Silencing the Guns initiative. Both emphasize the destruction of recovered weapons and regional cooperation to curb arms trafficking.
The gun destruction ceremony, attended by top security chiefs and regional administrators, also served as a symbolic warning to organized criminal networks and corrupt officials facilitating the arms trade.
Ruto called for sustained collaboration among East African nations to monitor borders and disrupt transnational arms flows, saying, “We must work together to secure the future of our region—one where no child has to grow up under the shadow of a gun.”