As the country sends off Internal Security Minister George Saitoti and Assistant Minister Joshua Ojode, the biggest honour Kenya can bestow on them is to see through their wishes of a reformed police force.
Similarly, the political class as they have said in their eulogies for the two must preach peaceful, free and fair elections.
A fresh report published yesterday by the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation monitoring project delivered a harsh verdict on the police.
The report said: “The police remain the only institution that has recorded limited progress in reforms.
The Independent Police Oversight Authority is in place, but the Police Service Commission is yet to be established.
The delay establishing the Commission has in turn delayed the appointment of the Inspector General of Police, an appointment that is critical for creating the required momentum for police reforms.”
Nothing can be further from the truth. The leadership of this country: President Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Speaker Kenneth Marende, ministers, and MPs must fast track the envisaged police reforms.
It must not be lost that security is critical to managing elections competently and ensuring that the free will of the people is exercised at the ballot. A reformed police is crucial to electoral preparedness and the protection of the democratic space.
Free and fair elections are only possible when laws guaranteeing freedom of assembly and association are enforced. Having free and fair elections also requires that people exercise their rights without compromising the rights of other people.
Chapter 4, which contains the Bill of Rights under the Constitution, guarantees these rights and freedoms.
Bill of Rights
Scenes of armed police officers acting in a draconian manner charging at the public, beating them senseless and dispersing them with tear-gas do not add value to the Kenya envisioned in the Constitution.
Kenyans who gather to discuss the political future of the country need police protection not brutal and barbaric attack. This is a level we must never stoop to again.
Incidents of police taking actions that flout the spirit of the Bill of Rights on the freedoms of assembly and association, in particular, must become a distant memory.
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