Kimaiyo should mind his acts and remarks on force reforms

By Suba Churchill

Nairobi,Kenya:The wave of crime that has hit the country since the conclusion of the General Election has put Inspector General of Police (IGP) David Kimaiyo on the spotlight. Kimaiyo is the first IGP since the position was created under the new Constitution and the National Police Service Act.

Since he was appointed to the position, Kimaiyo has displayed tendencies and made controversial pronouncements. Initially there were rumours he was at loggerheads with the National Police Service Commission (NPSC).

The rumours have since been confirmed as true with the emergence of a raft of proposals from Kimaiyo that among others, seek to have provisions of the Police Service Act amended to reduce powers of the Independent Police Oversight Authority (Ipoa) and vest such powers on his office.

Specifically, Kimaiyo has suggested his office be vested with the power to discipline officers. He also wants provisions in the law that make it mandatory that he acts on recommendations of Ipoa removed.

Ipoa and the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) are supposed to investigate cases of misconduct in the service and communicate the findings to IGP for implementation.

It is this requirement that the IGP implements recommendations of Ipoa that Kimaiyo is against. This could easily be interpreted as the new IGP does not want to be held to account, or wants to protect rogue members of the service from disciplinary control. Kimaiyo should shed this image at one.

Removal from office

Article 246 of the Constitution that establishes the NPSC provides in sub-article 3(b) that it is the commission and not the IGP that shall “exercise disciplinary control over and remove persons holding or acting in offices within the Service”.

In demanding the NPSC cedes its constitutional powers to discipline errant members of the service to his office, Kimaiyo is contravening the Constitution that demands accountability to the public for decisions and actions of members of the service that have in the past been blamed for all manner of criminal acts including extra-judicial killings.

I wish to remind the IGP of the provisions of Article 245(7) of the Constitution that requires anyone to be removed from office on grounds of serious violation of the Constitution or any other law, including Chapter Six of the Constitution that requires accountability to the public. His grouse with the NPSC could have partly created the lapses now being exploited by criminally minded people to cause mayhem, loss of life and limb in different parts of the country.

But Kimaiyo has also ably put up a compelling case for adequate funding of the police service to be able to provide its services effectively. He recently requested the Treasury to allocate Sh150 billion for realisation of police reforms.

Granted, resources are critical for effective policing, particularly as envisaged in the Constitution.

{Suba Churchill, Nairobi}