The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has named Nairobi, Kiambu, and Meru, the most crime prevalent counties in the country.
The Economic Survey 2023 report released by KNBS on Wednesday, May 3, indicates that the crime rate in the country increased by 8.4 percent to 88,083 in 2022 from the 81,272 offenses committed in 2021.
Nairobi country recorded the highest number of crimes in 2022 at 8,512, followed by Kiambu and Meru counties at 7,844 and 5,698 crimes, respectively.
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Nakuru and Machakos followed at 4,514 and 3,813 cases, closing the top five list. Other counties whose crime rate was of great concern are Murang’a (2,696), Bungoma (2,668), Kisii (2,641), Mombasa (2,321), and Kitui (2,341).
The report further showed that Mandera was the safest county in Kenya, followed by Wajir and Lamu. Crimes committed in the three counties were 337, 392, and 431, respectively.
“Samburu, Isiolo, Kiambu, and Kajiado command stations also recorded significant crime increases during the review period. Notable declines were, however, recorded in Kakamega (33.4%), Marsabit (25.3%), Siaya (20.1%), and Nandi (19.0%) command stations during the same period,’’ KNBS stated.
Offences against persons, stealing, and offences against morality jointly accounted for more than half of the total crimes reported to the police in 2022.
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“The highest increase in crimes reported to the police was recorded for theft of stock (36.4 percent) followed by traffic offences (28.5 percent) and robbery (27.2 percent). Similarly, the number of offences reported for stealing increased by 25.1 percent to 14,718 in 2022,” the report indicated.
On why the crime rate was on the rise in Kenya, the report indicated that the number of criminals carrying firearms had substantially increased. Police recovered 235 illegally held firearms in 2022 compared to 98 firearms recovered in 2021.
“The number of firearms surrendered increased to 375 in 2022 compared to 16 firearms surrendered in 2021,” the statistics body added.
Police recovered 3,879 rounds of ammunition and seized 5,850 kilograms of dangerous drugs during the same period.
KNBS also noted that the number of offenses committed by women between 2018 and 2022 increased by 13.6 percent to 17,475, while those committed by men increased by 2.3 percent to 70,383 in 2022.