Poorly planned deployment led to killing of officers

By Standard Reporter

The Waki Report on post-election violence says only two Administration Police officers were killed. But information gathered by The Standard on Sunday suggests the number could actually be higher.

On December 26, KBC announced that 15 APs had been arrested in Kisii transporting fake presidential ballot papers. The fake papers are said to have been prepared at the house of a senior AP official at their headquarters in Embakasi. KTN and The Standard reported these incidents before 2007 elections.

The then Kisii Deputy CID boss Alfred Ouko confirmed to the station that an AP had been killed in Nyatike Constituency, Migori District.

He further confirmed that three more officers had been killed in Homa Bay town. The APs had marked presidential ballot papers in favour of President Kibaki, then PNU presidential candidate.

He also said two other officers had been killed in Oyugis town on suspicion of being PNU agents.

Sources within the AP command have put the number of officers killed at a low of 19 to a high of 58.

"It is almost a taboo to talk about them. You are bound to attract unwarranted attention if you press on asking," he said.

When contacted for information on the number of casualties, Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said he knew little about the operation "due to the sensitivity of the matter".

The hallmark of the plot was its poor planning. Neither the regular police nor the APs in the regions where the officers were posted were aware of the operation. PCs, DCs and DOs also did not know about the deployment.

"It was a tightly kept secret. We did not know about it," said a PC.

"Some of them were dropped at Magunga trading centre late in the evening. There was no alert whatsoever that the officers were coming," explained the officers at Magunga police post. "Had we been informed we would have prepared backup for them. It is the poor planning that is to blame for the deaths of those officers," headded.

With the few vehicles available to them and the bad terrain, the police officers worked overtime rescuing and gathering their distressed colleagues, trapped in remote villages.

Most of those who had been rescued were sheltered at Mbita and Magunga police stations before being escorted to Kisii town where they boarded vehicles home.

"It was hectic. We were supposed to be everywhere at the same time. We could not possibly rescue all of them but we did our best. I cannot really tell the total number of officers killed, but between Sori and Mbita, we collected seven bodies," he said

There is a pervading claim among officers who spoke to The Standard on Sunday that some of their colleagues drowned in Lake Victoria at Mbita and Homa Bay. One was forced to weed the whole night at a hotel between Rongo and Homa Bay on December 26, 2007. We could not independently verify the information. Furthermore, a regular police officer at Mbita police post disputes the claims.

"I was here all the time. No officer, as far as I know, drowned here. But they could have been drowned somewhere else. But even then we could have heard reports about it," he said.

Most officers who spoke to The Standard on Sunday expressed bitterness that their plight was forgotten by human rights organisations.

"Human rights organisations complain a lot when police officers stray in their line of duty, but I am surprised that they never talk about officers killed in an operation," said an officer who survived. "We are disciplined officers and we follow orders. But who will hold the Government to account for misusing its officers?" he posed.

A senior AP official told this writer: "The only reason the Government has not been sued is because the families of the affected officers are ignorant of the law. The whole operation was criminal from the beginning."

The Standard on Sunday has independently verified that two other officers died in different circumstances although still related to post-election violence.

Omar Dadho, Force No. 2001221520 was killed defending an armoury in Kericho town in January 2008, from protesting youth and was honoured by the State for his efforts.

Omar Kiragu, Force No 880668480, was on duty escorting Chinese contractors along the Nakuru-Eldoret highway when he was ambushed by irate youth and killed along the Eldoret-Nakuru highway in December 2007. He was a Kalenjin.