IPOA names top State officials in Lamu killings

A top Government spy in Lamu and a former county commissioner have been heavily implicated in the Lamu attacks by the Al-Shabaab group.

A report prepared by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), which investigated the attacks, says the officers played a role in the Mpeketoni attacks.

Senior police officers and Lamu Governor Issa Timamy told the commission that the intelligence officer and former Commissioner Stephen Ikua were so tied up in the local politics and had vested interest on land, to an extent it was quite difficult for them to make impartial decisions.

The report seen by The Standard on Saturday does not mention the name of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) officer, but it mentions Mr Ikua, who has since been transferred to Trans-Nzoia County.

Like Mr Ikua, who had served as a district commissioner in Lamu, IPOA heard that the NIS officer had previously worked in Lamu, transferred and then brought back to the coastal town.

“Personal interests and differences resulted in the county government and national government representatives pulling in different directions thus fueling tension,” the report, whose edited version was released to the public reads in part.

smuggled arms

The report‘s verdict explains why authorities allegedly‚ ‚looked the other way‘ even as the police revealed that an officer attached to the Anti-Terror Police Unit had smuggled in arms and hidden them in a hotel.

Governor Timamy, who was acquitted by the High Court for not having any role in the killings, told IPOA investigators that his relationship with Ikua was not amicable, a situation, which placed the county‘s security at risk.

The claims and counter-claims is a pointer to what the report shows was a vicious push and pull between the then county commander of the Kenya Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police Leonard Omollo and Ikua.

“Mr Omollo feels that as a recent Muslim convert, Commissioner Ikua is in denial that recruitment and radicalisation of Muslim youths into terrorist groups is taking place and, therefore, fails to address the matter,” the confidential seen by The Standard alleges.

Omollo‘s feel, says the report, is that while Ikua is the Executive‘s head in the county, he was a persistent absentee in the crucial security meetings held to assess the situation in the volatile county. It is Ikua‘s deputy who chaired most of the security meetings.

IPOA treated the allegation of absenteeism as simply that, an allegation, because, the investigators were unable to get the minutes to prove the claims.

When Ikua spoke to the investigators, he alleged that Omollo works very closely with the county government at the expense of the national government.

Omollo‘s dalliance with Mr Timamy‘s government, at a time when the governor had been accused of the chaos, was perhaps the reason why Omollo was controversially shown the door, much to the chagrin of his juniors.

IPOA reached out to the Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Senior Superintendent Amos Cheboi to find out what he thought about the bad blood between Timamy and his government on one hand, and Ikua on the other.

The report says that despite having been in the county for only two months, Mr Cheboi had noticed the challenge and its effect on effective policing in the area.

Lamu West MP Julius Ndegwa and a bishop from the county identified as Zebediah Mathai told IPOA of their ‚heart-felt sentiments and dislike‘ against Omollo. To them, the whole attack was Omollo‘s doing, and so was the inaction by the police forces.

But Omollo explained to IPOA his predicament at the hands of the police bosses in the county, who ignored his orders when rumours began flying that he was to be shown the door.

He paints a picture of a frustrated man, because he told personnel from the Administration Police service and the General Service Unit to pursue the attackers but they sat on their laurels.

He told the investigators that on his way from Mpeketoni to Kibaoni following the second attack, he got a call to the effect that the Deputy Inspector General of Police Grace Kaindi wanted to see him. The county bosses for AP and GSU then did not go to the areas he had asked them to man.

As he was on his way to meet Ms Kaindi, his daughter called and informed him that he had been interdicted. “At 1800 hours, I was informed by DIG Kaindi that I had been interdicted and therefore, I returned to Lamu Island and began preparing a hand-over report,” he told IPOA.

“Some of the police bosses and juniors were angry that Omollo had been fired through the media. There was anxiety over who would be next,” reads the report.

In the confusion, Cheboi was wrongly informed that he had been interdicted and he, therefore, left the operation but was later ordered to return.

According to officers‘ accounts, when the senior officers withdrew upon the news of their interdiction, the operation was thrown into confusion.

Contacted by The standard, Omollo said he was unfairly targeted. „I told IPOA the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The county commissioner and the governor were not seeing eye to eye, and that made my work difficult. I really tried. I got there at one in the dead of the night. People had been killed,“ said Omollo.

Like IPOA and some of those interviewed, Omollo questions why he was picked, yet the intelligence chief, the county commissioner and his counterpart in the Administration Police were left untouched.

He was interdicted and sent home until investigations are completed. Calls to Ikua‘s mobile number went unanswered. The Standard on Saturday tried to reach him at mid-day and later in the evening, and by the time we went to Press, his phone just rung and was never answered.

go-slow

“The officers at Mpeketoni Police Station were disheartened to learn of the interdiction of their commander who had been in constant communication with the officers at the station but could not get to them due to the ongoing gunfire,” the IPOA report added.

As to the ATPU officer who smuggled arms and hid them in a hotel in Witu town, the information got to the deputy County Commissioner Benson Maisori at a meeting held at Breeze View Hotel.

In attendance at the meeting were AP Mpeketoni Chief Inspector Mwaliko, NIS Mpeketoni representative Bernard Mureithi, and Witu AP Senior Sergeant Karantei of Witu AP.

It was resolved that Mr Mwaliko organise an immediate raid to be carried out by the APs without involving the Kenya Police Service to avoid compromising the operation.

“Mwaliko requested for a week to organise the operation and seek reinforcement, as well as, clearance from his superiors,” the IPOA report noted. But to date, the IPOA report says the raid has not taken place.

IPOA also wants seven police officers awarded for the good job they did in fighting off the attackers: Sergeant Gideon Ndambuki, Constable Simon Omondi, Constable Crispin Oduor, Constable Julius Ruto, Constable Ernest Minjiro, Constable Alex Njehu and Constable Dickson Ndichu.

„These officers bravely left the police lines under fire and came to the police station where they were issued with weapons and reinforced the station,“ says IPOA in its report.