NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 18 – The top leadership at Vigilance House and the Administration Police could be the next targets in a major purge expected in the country’s security forces.
This follows the government’s announcement that it planned to initiate major reforms in line with recommendations of the Waki report and the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation team which called for the replacement of the security chiefs in the departments.
When President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga appended their signatures to the agreement on the formation of a Special Tribunal for post election violence perpetrators on Wednesday, they indicated a commitment to implement the Waki report.
“Convinced that fundamental reforms must be instituted to create a better, more secure and more prosperous Kenya for all, the parties shall initiate urgent and comprehensive reforms of the Kenya Police and the Administration Police,” reads part of the agreement in our possession.
The reforms, it adds, will be undertaken by a panel of policing experts and will include but not limited to a review of all tactics, weapons and use of force.
The Kenya Police was indicted in the Waki report which accused the Police Commissioner of failing to coordinate security during the post election period, leading to the killing of some 1,300 Kenyans who were shot, hacked or burnt alive during revenge attacks in various parts of the country.
“The reforms will also include the establishment of an independent Police Service Commission to oversee both the Kenya Police and Administration police and an Independent Police Conduct Authority for both the Kenya Police and Administration Police,” says the agreement.
There shall also be created a modern Code of Conduct for the Kenya Police and administration police and the achievement of ethnic and tribal balance in the force.
Though it emphasised the urgent need to institute the reforms, the agreement by the two principles did not spell out the timelines for the changes.
In his findings, Justice Philip Waki who led the Commission on Post Election Violence (CIPEV) said majority of those who died of bullet wounds were shot by the police, sparking a major outcry against the force.
Maj General Hussein Ali has repeatedly insisted that his officers were not responsible for the mass killings which occurred during the post election period, and instead absolved them from blame for atrocities committed at the time.
When he appeared before the Waki Commission as the first witness to give evidence, he said officers under his leadership were professional throughout the period and maintained that he would employ the same tactics incase of a repeat of the situation.
The agreement signed by President Kibaki and the PM paves the way for the establishment of a Special Tribunal that will seek accountability against persons bearing the greatest responsibility for crimes against humanity relating to the 2007 General Elections.
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