Disciplined Forces attack Lenku over remarks on dismissed officers

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku. (Photo:File/Standard)

By Eric Wainaina

Kiambu, Kenya: Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Lenku has come under fire from retired officers from the Disciplined Forces over his remarks that they are behind the wave of crime in the country.

Captain John Mathenge, a retired army officer who is the group chairman said the government should deal with those involved in criminal activities as criminals and not retired officers.

“A criminal is a criminal whether in the forces or anywhere else and that’s how the government should handle the matter. The minister’s statement is very reckless and we wonder whether he means that anytime an officer retires he proceeds to be a criminal,” Mr Mathenge said.

Mathenge said even though there are a few ex-officers involved in criminal activities, it’s only a small fraction and decried that cabinet secretary’s statement appeared to generalise.

Tuesday, Lenku said government will profile persons that have been dismissed from active police duty or recently retired in an effort to curb rising cases of men in uniform engaging in crime.

Instead of condemning them, Mathenge who issued a press statement in Kiambu Wednesday said the government should embrace officers and use them in the community policing and other security programs, saying they are well acquainted with the skills.

“We have reputable retired officers who have been working together with the provincial administration in our own programs. We know what war is and what peace is and how do deal with them than anybody else in the country because we are trained peace keepers and we (disciplined forces) have no ethnicity,” he said.

He decried that the government has neglected ex-officers by denying them tangible retirement benefits like of civil servants, pushing some of them to the world of crime.

The ex-officers asked the National Assembly to adopt a bill that has been tabled in the House by Adan Keynan that seeks to award benefits to retiring security officers.