NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 6 – Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai says no court sanctioned evictions will be implemented unless it is cleared by his office.
Mutyambai while appearing before Senate Devolution Committee stated that all formation within his mandate have been ordered not to engage in any eviction until it has been formally verified and approved.
The IG was summoned by the committee chaired by Senator Moses Kajwang to explain why police officers were used in the illegal evictions of residents of parcels of land in Pumwani and Eastleigh.
“All the court orders for evictions and demolition they have to come to me then I do further consultation with the office of Attorney General who will verify with him on top of verification going on ground and make sure all the requirement of the law are observed,” he said.
This is following sustained sentiments by senators that the police officers acted in illegality to evict civil servant living in Nairobi Water staff quarters and doctors residing in Pumwani staff quarters.
Mutyambai however defended police officers involved in the incident saying the security agency can only act on evictions backed by verified court orders.
“We don’t take court orders as per se, the police only deal with criminal cases but when it comes to civil issues, we only deal with them under court orders,” he said.
“Police don’t carry out evictions, we do exactly what is directed in the court orders after we verify,” Mutyambai added.
Kajwang however questioned why the police participated in an exercise where procedure was not followed by giving the evictees a notice of eviction.
“Since we started this investigation no one has been able to show us the notice served to the parties concerned. We don’t want a back and forth. We believe the police should is a service not a force to oppress the people,” the Homabay Senator stated.
In a rejoinder, Mutyambai assured that investigations are ongoing to establish whether police officers were involved in an illegality in the evictions in the disputed parcels of land in Pumwani and Eastleigh.
“We will investigate this matter and act according to the direction of the investigation. If the police were responsible for illegality and there are officers responsible for it, we will act according to the direction of the investigation, “the Inspector General committed.
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