Opinion: Rogue national police service officers a disgrace to Kenya

 Inspector General Joseph Boinnet Photo:Courtesy

This week we were treated to horrible scenes of State-sanctioned violence visited on innocent, peaceful Kenyans for picketing.

The National Police Service and Inspector General Joseph Boinnet enter the book of records as presiding over an inhuman police attack that brutalises people in our beloved country.

Faced with long-standing tensions from the election results that had been greatly exacerbated by reactions to brutal repression, the Government attempted to play a more dominant role than in previous years, with increased security presence.

Images of jungle-green water cannons, heavily armed riot police charging at protesters, bludgeoning unarmed individuals as well as clouds of tear gas in the local, international and social media send wrong messages to would-be investors, tourists and conference organisers.

SOILED IMAGE

In a nutshell, Kenya’s image and place among nations is nose-diving at an alarming speed.

We must salvage this situation and those with authority over police officers must act with speed. Worse still is the selective approach to use of brute force. When protesters in pro-Jubilee areas go on the rampage, few or no officers are sent to the scene.

The exact opposite happens when the Opposition calls protests. From the outset I join voices that have been calling for less brute force from the uniformed officers, who are supposed to be disciplined, humane and ethical in their way of dealing with people;the men and women who pay their salaries. We must reform our officers. They are viewed as corrupt, violent, and people best avoided. NPS must not be seen as a colonial relic for coercion and intimidation.

The assault on University of Nairobi hostels at best reminds us of the dark days this country went through in the clamour for multi-party democracy and to create the position Boinnet is enjoying with a good salary, cars, bodyguards, privileges and trappings of power.

Such archaic actions serve to dampen spirits of partners who want to engage in police reforms by supporting their working and living conditions, better pay for junior officers and general welfare including modern equipment.

Kenya has a long track record of violence and there is absolutely no reason a modern police service would want to back-pedal gains earned the hard way. There is no doubt that presidential elections in Kenya elicited conflict.

And so did the Supreme Court verdict, which annulled the re-election of President Uhuru Kenyatta on August 8. While claims of excessive force are vehemently and routinely denied by Government and police headquarters, enough evidence in the form of videos and photographs of terror being meted out on citizens is reaching alarming and unacceptable levels.

It appears the Government has legitimised illegal police actions and one needs only to listen to acting security Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi’s utterances. They are bereft of intellectual and best practice examples and full of denial.

A lame argument of justifying the brute force is that police were responding to criminals who were looting property or violently attacking businesses.

There are many pending questions about police complicity and inability to firmly deal with crimes such as murder. Our good police service and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations under Ndegwa Muhoro still owe Kenyans answers to where investigations on Jacob Juma, Chris Msando and many more killings under his tenure have reached.

Various human rights watchers have authored reports, which show heavily armed police officers pursuing unarmed civilians, happily opening live fire on unarmed civilians, including children as was in the case of babies Samantha and Pendo.

How would a six-month-old child be looting or violently disturbing peace? Officers must be reminded of international guidelines, such as the United Nations Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms, which stipulate that the police are expected to use discretion in crowd control tactics to ensure a proportionate response to any threat of violence, and to avoid exacerbating the situation.

UNPRODUCTIVE INSTITUTIONS

In some of these protests, dozens of lives have been lost and recovery of bodies documented by verifiable institutions. We must not forget there was a decomposing body retrieved from Lake Victoria. Such is the bizarre state of affairs confronting a country seen as the pinnacle of peace and democracy in the region.

The Government and the Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (IPOA) have failed to meaningfully investigate the security forces’ actions, only issuing a statement through a junior officer claiming they learned of the actions through complaints in social media. IPOA's response is equally wanting or as observers see it, it is slowly becoming irrelevant.