Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery defends police over extra-judicial killings

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery (left) and Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet at a Press conference, yesterday. He has defended the police over reports linking them to extra-judicial killings. (PHOTO: BEVERLYNE MUSILI/ STANDARD)

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery has defended the police over reports linking them to extra-judicial killings.

Mr Nkaissery said the presence of a few rogue officers in the service should not justify blanket condemnation of the entire force.

The CS said some of the reports against the National Police Service were aimed at undermining efforts made by the country’s security agencies.

“Like any other large institution, the police (service) may harbour a few rogue elements as happens in other sizable institutions,” he told a press conference in Nairobi.

“But a few do not justify condemnation of an entire institution. The National Police Service has on its own taken disciplinary action against indisciplined officers,” he added.

No policy

He said there was no policy within the National Police Service allowing the officers to engage in extra-judicial killings, adding that the law stipulated instances where officers were allowed to use firearms against criminals.

“Police officers often encounter armed criminals as they execute their mandate, where many of them have been killed and others grievously harmed and maimed. The use of firearms by police officers is clearly stipulated in the law,” he added.

Claims of a co-ordinated police squad with an intention to intimidate and kill civilians have dogged the police service despite a push to have reforms in the service.

The latest killing that painted the force in bad light was that of lawyer Willie Kimani, who was killed alongside his client and a driver allegedly by officers.

But the CS maintained that persistent media reports painting the police negatively lacked facts and objectivity and were only meant to condemn “the excellent work of the National Police Service”.

He said there was a conspiracy by some elements, whom he could not name, to taint the image of the force.

He said some of the cases forwarded to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) had been cleared for lack of evidence implicating the officers.

Most of the cases, he said, were found to be baseless.