That an MP has come up with a Bill to address security issues is welcome news.
Laikipia West MP Wachira Karani has sought to introduce a Bill in Parliament to tackle poor administrative policies and working conditions in the police service. While the MP’s move is timely, the country is in dire need of decisive action to stem insecurity once and for all – perhaps more than additional pieces of legislation. This is precisely because the lethargy in the police force to combat crime is not symptomatic of a legislative vacuum but rather a manifestation of underlying problems that have dogged the force for decades.
The Constitution provides for the preservation of life and guarantees protection of property and various freedoms. But if there is reluctance – even unwillingness to uphold the rule of law by people entrusted with the law, additional legislation would not suffice. We should be worried that with current ‘sufficient’ legislative framework guiding the police force and the amount of resources availed to that department, marauding gangs could still breach parts of the country at will, assault and slaughter Kenyans with such merciless abandon as did the gangs that raided Bungoma and Teso villages recently.
Much as some of these attacks point to sophisticated planning by well-organised criminal elements as have been witnessed in similar attacks in places like Garissa and the Coast, the country has the capacity to summon its best arsenal to deal with such insecurity. We understand our police may be not be among the best equipped and motive in the region, but Kenyans must demand the best out of our police force even with scarce resources. And on this regard the police need to put their house in order by addressing internal wrangles and inequities that have brought divisions among them including the emergence of police imposters to the detriment of the country’s security.
And as MPs seek to make better laws to oversee this sector and Kenyans dig deeper into their pockets to finance reforms, the buck stops with Inspector General David Kimaiyo and the head of National Intelligence Service Michael Gichangi.
