Nairobi — President William Ruto now says he will be demanding results from the National Police Service (NPS) in the execution of their mandate after granting them financial autonomy.

The Head of State said having moved the NPS budget from the Office of the President with the Inspector General of Police having been designated an Accounting Officer.

President Ruto was speaking on Sunday during an interdenominational prayer and thanksgiving service he convened at State House Nairobi.

The Head of State challenged the police to step up efforts to tackle insecurity in bandit-prone areas including parts of the North Rift region.

"I will be demanding of them results because they always complained that they were curtailed by the fact that they had to look for resources in the Office of the President, I have now separated their budget for them to run their own budget and plan," he said.

"They have their own strategy and we will be demanding from them the security of Kenyans because that is their mandate and we will be making sure that they deliver on that mandate," Ruto affrimed.

While commenting on the latest bandit attack in Turkana which claimed the lives of 11 people including eight police officers, President Ruto said that his government is keen to ensure an end to conflicts in the country.

"The spirit of conflict as you all know has come to our country. We lost several people and policemen yesterday (Saturday) in Turkana. We are doing what we must do as a government to make sure we see the last of this kind of things so that our country can be peaceful," Ruto said as he called on the clergy to pray for peace in the nation.

The Head of State further appealed to the religious leaders to pray for the men and women in uniform across the country as they maintain law and order.

Ruto has termed the operational independence of police as the missing link for effective service delivery and a deterrence measure to stop abuse of security agencies in pursuit of political agenda.