Skip to main content

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE POLICE IN KENYA?!?!?!?!



Watching news is generally depressing these days, what is even more depressing is when a news item begins and up pops a young boy barely 8 years of age, frightened to death by cameras trained on him, hand cuffed, unable to even speak, thoroughly confused about what he has just experienced. It is absolutely innervating to think that despite the many gains celebrated , there are people out there who still have absolutely no sense of moral or thought in them. The story of the young boy handcuffed by police who allegedly came to his mother’s house with the intention of arresting her for selling illegal brew is poignant – heartrending in fact! The police allegedly found the boy in the house alone, beat him up senseless and handcuffed him for failure to account for his mother’s whereabouts! C’mon police officers, an eight year old?!?!

This story gravely highlights the rot in the police force. At this point no one would blame us for judging the entire police force harshly due to the actions of just one of their own, but cut me some slack, the police never walk alone - at least two of them, and when carrying out an illegal brew den swoop, they are usually more. Even if they were just two, didn't the colleague have the intestinal fortitude to let his colleague know that whatever he had done was utterly inhumane and illegal? Is he any better than his/her colleague who did the beating and handcuffing?

Kenyans overwhelmingly voted in a new constitution whose spirit shouted out super loud the need to protect the most vulnerable in society especially from excesses meted out by state apparatus. Among the features of the constitution that must have excited the Kenyan citizen is the idea of a revamped police force, fully accountable to the public with its head (with whom the back stops) being recruited in a transparent way leaving no doubts about his/her values, vision, integrity and experience. Article 244 of the Constitution lays down some of the objects that ought to be enshrined in the National Police Service both as a constitutive body but more importantly among its members. Highest standards of professionalism and discipline among its members, promotion of transparency and accountability, compliance with constitutional standards of human rights and fundamental freedom are but a few of the objects in the Constitution. Now am sure that no instruction manual at Kiganjo trains the kind of police officer that is capable of carrying out such a heinous act, however, the practice of impunity that the police force are accustomed to and that is deeply engrained in its work ethic is what Kenyans said "never again" to.

The putting off of interviews for the posts of Inspector-General and other Seniour members of the National Police Service due to the likely procedural quagmire after Mr. Hassan Omar and Mr. Okong’o Omogeni left their nominating organizations ought to be sorted out as soon as possible. We need that revamped police service in place soonest. We need a properly conducted vetting of the Seniour police officers with the aim of getting persons of high integrity capable of spearheading the rooting out of the systemic impunity that hangs as a dark cloud.

What happened to carrying out proper investigations? What happened to having proper intelligence to ensure that there is proper evidence and the person allegedly involved in the criminal activity is at the premises? SURELY police officers, what happened to the humanity in you? As if the poverty he suffers isn't enough. What extra police training do you get after Kiganjo and who in God’s name offers that training?!? 

I  D O  N O T  U N D E R S T A N D... 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Madaraka Day @49 – What Exactly Does Attaining Self Rule Mean?

Courtesy of The Daily Nation The Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (adopted 14 th December, 1960) says the following about the importance of Independence; “ The General Assembly, Mindful of the determination proclaimed by the peoples of the world in the Charter of the United Nations to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, Convinced that all peoples have an inalienable right to complete freedom, the exercise of their sovereignty and the integrity of their national territory… .” The Preamble to the Constitution of Kenya 2010 says; “ We the people of Kenya – Honouring those who heroically struggled to bring freedom and justice to our land: Exercising our sovereign and inalienable right to determine the form of governance ...
Post a Comment
Read more

LATEST COURT OF APPEAL APPOINTMENTS - Kudos JSC!!

Once again the JSC is 'on-point' in its latest appointment of 7 new judges of the Court of Appeal. The ration of appointments is clearly in favour of the women i.e. 5 out of the 7 are women. This follows the earlier appointment of 28 new judges of the High Court 13 of whom were women. Indeed, the Court of Appeal has been largely identified with a perpetual delay in the administration with many calling upon it to work at changing its public image. Indeed, the Justice William Ouko led Task force report not only only found that there were vacancies at the court of appeal (11 instead of the then 14 allowed) but even out of the 11 judges, there was no woman judge at the Court of Appeal. The Constitution of Kenya, as a result of a reflection on some of these grave inequities and disparities is very clear on the issue of gender representation at all levels of and in all arms of government. Whether a woman judge matters can be seen from some reflections in this rather short, simple...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE “HOUSE OF TERROR” – Reflections….

The "House of Terror" - Budapest, 1062 Andrassy ut 60 So today I finally got to visit the ‘House of Terror’ one of those places you certainly ought to visit if you ever pass by Budapest, Hungary! It is described as a museum that commemorates the victims of terror as well as a reminder of the dreadful acts of terror carried out by ‘victimizers’. The building, and the museum inside are a vivid, impressive recreation of different periods of Hungarian history that the country has tried to move on from albeit painfully. The Different sections of the Museum that begins with a hallway full of victims, then instruments of torture, actual cells, gallows and a morgue, witness accounts displayed on screens and pictures that tell a thousand words all bear testimony to the atrocities witnessed and meted. The building housed the Hungarian Nazis in the early 1940’s and later a residence of the AVO and subsequently the AVH who are known to have participated in the worst forms of crimes agai...
3 comments
Read more