Tiaty Member of Parliament William Kamket (Kanu) was on Thursday arrested for questioning in connection with ongoing skirmishes in the Kapedo area, Baringo County.
The MP was picked up by detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations in Nairobi and detained at the Kileleshwa police cells.
Officials said he was set to be transferred to Nakuru for possible arraignment.
Kamket said he had been arrested but he had not been informed of the reasons.
“They have not told me why they arrested me,” he said on the phone.
Other police sources said he had been linked to an incident in which some youths took an oath before they proceeded to Kapedo which is at the center of the ongoing clashes between police and local armed bandits.
The MP had on Wednesday asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to deescalate the fighting in the area.
He and Senate Majority leader Samuel Poghisio faulted the security operators of applying excessive force in ending the skirmishes.
They said the operation is inhumane and should be stopped to save lives.
The leaders asked the government to change tack in addressing security concerns in the volatile area.
They said a dispute over the boundary on exactly where Kapedo belongs, poverty, and lack of basic necessities are fueling the inter-community clashes.
The height of the attacks climbed on Sunday when a senior General Service Unit officer was killed in the area in an ambush.
On Tuesday, the bandits also attacked a police APC in the same area prompting a major gunfight for hours.
This was hours before six bodies of locals were discovered in the Arab area with bullet wounds in the head.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i condemned the killing of the GSU officer which he termed premeditated, cold-blooded, and heinous
The attack, which took place between Kapedo and Chemolingot in Baringo County at Amaya center at 4:30 pm, saw the killing of GSU Deputy Operations Director, Emadau Tamako, and left two other officers injured.
Matiang’i said investigations had revealed that the ambush took place against the backdrop of a ritual ceremony in which organized bandits were intentionally charged and adjured by some traditional leaders in a form of cultural ceremony.
He said the Inspector General of the National Police Service Hilary Mutyambai had since launched an unprecedented operation in the area, and we will not relent until all the perpetrators, including the elders who administered the oath and sent off the killers, are surrendered and brought to justice.
“This operation will be extensive and sustained as we meticulously comb through every nook and cranny in the area until we find the last criminal,” he said.
The CS said the region has claimed the lives of several security officers and wananchi.
“It is extremely unfortunate that extraordinary efforts to find a lasting solution to the security challenges and breakdowns in peace between the Pokot and Turkana communities continue to face serious resistance from leaders, who have been patronizing the deadly attacks in pursuit of criminal and selfish interests,” he said.
The CS appealed to the locals to work closely with security officers as part of the efforts to change the national security doctrines in the area and decisively address the escalating attacks.
“We appeal to members of the public to work closely with our security officers with a view to bringing this matter to closure and begin a return to normalcy,” he said.
More personnel have since been sent to the area to hunt down the attackers.