This follows President William Ruto’s directive last week that investigations commence into incidences whereby police officers have been accused of extra-judicial murder.
IPOA board member JM Waiganjo on Monday during the press briefing said probing should be left to the oversight authority, arguing that the police service cannot investigate itself. “What concerns us mainly is that the Internal Affairs Unit of the National Police Service has taken over the investigations and the police, as you know, cannot effectively investigate themselves,” Waiganjo said.
Waiganjo however added that IPOA should be left with what it does. “We are asking that this authority (IPOA) be left to carry out its mandate without interference from the National Police Service,” JM said.
The authority further raised concerns about how the SSU was dissolved.
The DCI announced SSU’s dissolution through a statement on October 16, attributing the choice to order from the acting Inspector General of Police Noor Gabow.
President Ruto later in the day said he had directed the disbandment of the elite squad as part of his plan to address extrajudicial killings in the country. The Head of State said the police unit had become killers, instead of protectors of ordinary Kenyans.
But Mr. Waiganjo on Monday said the disbandment was “a little bit out of procedure”, without giving further details. “The authority has always sought to know any formation of the National Police Service and who the members of those units are, who they report to and how they are formed. When the disbandment happened, how it was done we thought it was a little bit out of procedure because the members of those units are under investigation. They are Kenyans and they deserve justice,” he said.
Waiganjo also noted that IPOA’s efforts in the probe have been met with “serious issues of cooperation” from members of the police.
John noted in quotes, “We hardly get cooperation, when we summon we have to insist they come, so those are some of the challenges that we have and we are hoping in this new administration, the cooperation that we have had with the members of the police will be enhanced,” he said.
On other hand the IPOA CEO, Mr. Elema Halake holds a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies, a Diploma in Wildlife Management, an Advanced Diploma in Social Work, and a postgraduate Diploma Certificate in criminal justice from Virginia University, USA. His Public Service career spans over 28 years including at Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), stated that they commenced investigations immediately after they got the information “We started this investigation when we got information that the police may have been involved in particularly the SSU.” Halake stated.
Ms. Doreen Muthaura Commissioner at Independent Policing Oversight Authority Advocate of the High Court of Kenya over 15 years standing, an expert in Legislative Drafting, Commissioner, highly skilled in Constitutional Law, Human Rights, Security Sector Reforms, Land and environment reforms, Corporate Governance among many more stated that the limits any police officer not to obey an unlawful order. “Section 51 of the MPs Act also requires and obligates an officer of whatever rank not to obey an unlawful order. And in fact that particular person is cushioned from any disciplinary or criminal proceedings where they act. They refuse to act on unlawful order.” Commissioner Muthaura said.
So far, four SSU officers are in police custody awaiting arraignment to face charges of abuse of office, conspiracy to commit a felony, and kidnapping.
Chief Inspector Peter Muthee, Corporal Joseph Mbugua, Corporal Francis Ndonye, and Corporal John Kamau were arrested on Saturday and were among 21 officers who were questioned at the IAU on Friday.
However, their lawyer, Danstan Omari, is reading malice into the charges brought against them. He claims the four officers are being victimized for refusing to give false information in the ongoing probe into the disappearance of two Indians Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan, and Mohamed Zaid Kidwai, and Kenyan taxi driver Nicodemus Mwania.
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