Thug bosses: Kanja on the spot over brutality from police

Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja has been faulted over a wave of brutality committed by police officers, raising concerns about his leadership of the National Police Service.

Yesterday, across social media platforms, calls for IG Kanja to resign, which have echoed since news broke of the brutal killing of Albert Ojwang’, a 31-year-old teacher, in police custody, grew louder.

Kanja leads a deeply rotten service, brazen in showcasing its depravity. On Tuesday, a police officer shot an unarmed hawker in the head at close range. The man, identified as Boniface Kariuki, lies in critical condition at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

On the same day, police officers marched alongside goons terrorising peaceful protesters and Kenyans going about their business as though on a joint operation.

Theirs was the portrait of state-sanctioned anarchy, which happened two days after Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja threatened a crackdown on protesters. Farouk Kibet, President William Ruto’s personal assistant, had also warned about a crackdown. And so when the goons were unleashed on protesters, many suspected involvement of politicians.

“Is Kanja a captive of politicians and the Executive? You cannot tell me that goons can operate in sight of police service and not be arrested,” said George Musamali, a security analyst. “The goons were armed, meaning they were interested in violent riots.”

The NPS issued a statement against the goons Tuesday evening, but omitted the fact that police officers enabled their reign of terror. “NPS has noted a group of goons armed with crude weapons in today’s protests within the CBD. The service takes great exception and does not condone such unlawful groupings. Such individuals will be handled firmly, according to the law. Consequently, investigations have commenced to identify and deal with the criminals accordingly,” a statement by NPs spokesperson, Muchiri Nyaga, read.

Nyandarua Senator John Methu curtly reacted to the statement, saying, “Douglas Kirocho Kanja will go down as the worst IG the NPS has ever had. His officers protected goons all day, and all he can say is ‘will be handled firmly’.”

Ndung’u Wainaina, a rights activist, questioned when the police would arrest in an X post. “Why were police @NPSOfficial_KE coordinating and working with goons to terrorise Kenyans? Who were the commanders responsible?” Wainaina posed.

Law Society of Kenya president Faith Odhiambo yesterday said Kanja should act decisively if he is to inspire public confidence and quell concerns that the police were procuring goons to attack Kenyans. “I would exonerate the Inspector General of Police based on how tough he reacts to this particular matter. If he’s able to crack the whip, then we’ll have some semblance of belief that those are not orders that were given to, you know, kill,” she said on Spice FM.

Efforts by The Standard to establish from the police whether any of the goons were arrested or whether they were investigating police officers captured on camera looting and aiding the goons were futile.

Last week, Kanja, alongside Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat, attracted resignation calls over Ojwang’s chilling murder at Central Police Station in Nairobi.

The IG gave statements that conflicted with reports by junior officers, which forced Kanja to apologise for the contradictions. He would promise action against officers who made false reports about the death. The Independent Policing Oversight Authority, which is investigating the murder, yesterday asked Kanja to “ensure full compliance with all legislative frameworks to procure public confidence and trust in the Service.”

Kanja, in office since last September, is a person of interest because the buck stops with him. Article 245 (2a) of the Constitution dictates that he shall “exercise independent command over the National Police Service, and perform any other functions prescribed by national legislation.”

He commands the Kenya Police and Administration Police Services and is shielded from interference on operational issues by the Constitution. Article 245 (4) strictly prohibits the Inspector General from taking orders from any person concerning the investigation of an offence, the enforcement of the law and the “employment, assignment, promotion, suspension or dismissal of any member of the National Police Service.”

Musamali argued that these safeguards were put in place to ensure the police service would not be weaponised by the state as it had historically.

“(Former Police Commissioner Maj Gen Hussein) Ali told the Hague-based International Criminal Court that he was not in charge of the police during the 2007 post-election violence. He was only in charge of the Kenya Police. The Administration Police took instructions from Harambee House. The Constitution aimed to cure this by putting one person in charge,” said Musamali.

The police had the power to act against the thugs on the spot, with experts reading a failure in the service’s leadership, which seems like a puppet of the Executive.

A consortium of rights groups, under Civic Freedoms Forum, demanded Kanja’s resignation for violating the Constitution and the National Police Service Act.

“He has failed to uphold the integrity of the police service, allowed unchecked brutality, and ignored judicial directives meant to safeguard public freedoms and safety,” they said in a statement.

The public freedoms in question include right to picket, which the police have often curtailed. Under Kanja’s watch, law enforcement agents have clamped down violently on initially peaceful protesters, as was the case on Tuesday. In so doing, he kept alive a legacy deeply entrenched in the police service, passed down from one regime to the next.

Before Kanja, there was Japhet Koome, whose most enduring legacy is overseeing violent crackdown of protesters in last year’s youth-led revolt, which resulted in more than 60 deaths, and another of opposition protests in 2023, which saw scores killed.

“What we are witnessing is failed leadership. We have a partisan police service which is more answerable to politicians and the Executive than to the people and the Constitution,” said Musamali.

“Kanja should fall on his sword. He should resign because he has not complained about receiving directives elsewhere, which only means he is aware of everything that is happening.”

Simiyu Werunga, also a security analyst, had pointed to these inadequacies in Kanja’s leadership during an interview on Spice FM last week, alluding to a command structure overrun by outside forces.

“Our suspicion is we have that parallel system that is doing its own things outside the framework and the leadership directs leadership with the IG,” he said.

Such suggestions have been supported by the fact that Kanja has repeatedly failed to provide answers on the abductions of state critics, often stating that security agents were not involved. There have been allegations linking the National Intelligence Service to the said kidnappings.