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2017 KENYA ELECTIONS

Meticulous election security plan ready – Matiangi

In a briefing to journalists on Wednesday evening, the police boss said all likely incidents before, during and after the elections have been pre-meditated and analyzed in a detailed security plan/COSMUS MWONGELA

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 2 – All security measures have been put in place ahead of next week’s General Election, the Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet has said.

This was after a review of the state of preparedness, during daylong meeting at the police headquarters, which was attended by all regional and formation commanders.

In a briefing to journalists on Wednesday evening, the police boss said all likely incidents before, during and after the elections have been pre-meditated and analyzed in a detailed security plan, in a bid to ensure there will be no repeat of the 2007-2008 violence that claimed over 1,000 lives and left about 600,000 others displaced.

“All I can say is that we are ready,” the police boss said.

Acting Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi, who closed the meeting, assured the country that all security nitty-gritty’s had been put in place to ensure the polls are carried out in a peaceful environment.

His message was clear to Kenyans “exercise your democratic right of voting and go back home to wait for the results.”

He said the security agencies shall firmly enforce the law in the guidance of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.

“We shall be guided by the IEBC to ensure everything goes as planned,” the CS stated.

It means only the accredited people will be allowed to stay at the more than 40,000 polling stations in the country.

“We will enforce what the IEBC has said. I promise that we will be very firm about it,” he asserted.

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During the meeting, he revealed that a security plan had been put in place to ensure all presiding officers and senior IEBC officials are granted with enough security.

This follows the atrocious murder of the electoral bodies ICT Manager Chris Msando and his lady friend, Maryanne Wairimu Ngumbu, who went missing late on Friday night only for their bodies to be found dumped in a forest in Kikuyu area of Kiambu County.

“We are saddened by the death of Msando and I want to urge Kenyans to avoid a lot of speculation and allow police to do their work,” Matiangi said.

He assured that justice shall be served for both Msando and Wairimu.

On Wednesday, a post-mortem conducted on the body of Msando revealed that he was tortured and then strangled to death.

His back had deep scratches, indicating the body was either dragged on a rough surface or scratched. His right hand had deep cuts giving an indication of severe torture using a very sharp object.

The autopsy was conducted at the Lee Funeral Home by Government Chief Pathologist Johansen Oduor and Bessie Byakika for the family.

“Strangulation was the cause of the death,” Dr Oduor said after the exercise conducted on Wednesday.

The autopsy was witnessed by detectives investigating the case as well as family representatives.

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Police are still investigating the motive of the murder, though it has emerged that they might have been hijacked from the city centre and driven around before they were murdered and their naked bodies dumped.

It’s not clear if a post-mortem has been conducted on the body of Wairimu aged 21, who was with Msando on the fateful night.

Here is a trail of their movements as established by preliminary police findings;

On Friday at about 8.50pm, the deceased left his office at Anniversary Towers and was spotted in company of two others persons (a male and female) at Club 7 on Koinange Street.

Msando’s vehicle was captured by the Integrated Communication Command and Control Centre (IC3) cameras at Uhuru Highway/Haile Selassie Avenue Round-about at 2.24am.

His vehicle was again captured a minute later at the Bunyala Road/Uhuru Highway roundabout heading towards Mombasa road.

In both instances, the vehicle had two occupants (a male and female) in the front seats.

At 2.34am, the vehicle was captured along Mombasa road towards the Nyayo Stadium, now with only a male occupant on the driver’s seat heading towards the city centre.

At 2.47am, Msando’s vehicle was captured along Ring Road Ngara/Juja road intersection towards Thika Road.

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His vehicle was found abandoned on Saturday at 12.30pm in Roysambu.

– Daily Security Briefings –

To avoid speculation on the matter and any other incident revolving around the election, Matiangi said there will be daily security briefings.

This, he said will be good to counter any fake news or propaganda mostly on social media platforms.

“I ask Kenyans to be responsible,” the CS appealed but cautioned that they have the capacity to deal with those who will break the law.

Tuesday next week, the day of voting has been declared as a public holiday to allow Kenyans exercise their democratic right, but the CS says “we expect Kenyans to resume work the following day.”

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