Murkomen: Politicians stripped of security over alleged links to violence

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has shed light on why police officers assigned to several politicians were withdrawn ahead of upcoming by-elections.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Murkomen said the officers were found to be in close contact with groups planning violent acts aimed at sabotaging Thursday’s elections.

“I am aware that a number of VIPs on both sides of the political divide had their security withdrawn by the National Police Service because the service has reports that their officers are involved in criminal activities. It must be in relation to the planned violence and the reasoned violent confrontations and the fact that some of these police officers have been found in the middle of goons, facilitating goons, transporting, hiring,” Murkomen said.

According to the CS, the withdrawal was a move aimed at preventing potential violence, adding that it does not preclude disciplinary action.

“It may also be that those police officers may never go back to their jobs if it is found that they were facilitating violence in any part of our country. A disciplinary action will be taken against them, and if the charges are proven, they will lose their jobs,” he said, emphasising that police officers assigned to protect politicians should not be part of any political campaign or criminal activity.

“There have been cases where police officers tied to VIPs have misused their firearms, sometimes almost to their own detriment. Any security measure taken by the National Police Service is to avoid a crisis. The fact that you have been tied to a certain VIP does not make you part and parcel of his campaign, his ideologies, or his criminal plans. You need to know that at any one time, you remain an officer of the National Police Service,"he said.

Murkomen's remarks follow the withdrawal of security details for Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya and Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale on Wednesday, November 26.