LET REFORMS IN THE POLICE FORCE BEAR FRUITS
Massive reforms within the police force have been witnessed lately and this is a welcome move for Kenyans.Indeed,the recent vetting process for top-ranking officers within the force ha begun to change the Kenyans' attitude towards this crucial institution for a country's internal security.
Kenya's police force for long has been marred by high levels of corruption,nepotism,ignorance to the plight of Kenya's populace,non professionalism due to recruitment of unqualified recruits among many other negative attributes the force was engulfed in.
With the new constitutional dispensation therefore,the force is yet to fully reach the envisaged levels in the reform process.
For instance,the coming out of three young men from Nyeri to the public limelight to confess that they had wrongly been placed under 'the most wanted persons' list puts to questions the intelligence modalities that the police use to identify these suspects.
Flanked by the KNHR(Kenya National Human Rights Commission) officials and looking innocent,the three young men frankly said that they were ready to face the court and co-operate with the police force in identifying their misdeeds.
According to the new constitution section 25(a),it provides the rights and fundamental freedoms that a person is entitled to,one being the freedom from torture and cruel,inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.Contrary to this,the police have caused unnecessary psychological trauma to these young men by putting them in such a dreaded list .
For a long time,the civil society groups have been blamed to co-operate with criminals by the ploice thus becoming a' great impediment' in improving security levels in Kenya.
Since the NARC government took over power in 2003,hundreds of innocent young men especially from Central Kenya ,have been subjected to untold torture on grounds of being Mungiki suspects.Many of these jobless youths are still languishing in Kenyan prisons and cells because their cases are still pending or were convicted on malicious grounds.
When the UN special rapporteur to Kenya,Prof.Philip Alston, compiled a report to indicate the height of extra-judicial killings in Kenya,many leaders in the government stood up with every form of condemnation to the report,many saying it was biased and shallowly researched.
It was only a short time after he had presented his report when two Oscar Foundation activists,Samuel Kamau King'ara and Paul Oula were shot dead on allegations that they were linked to Mungiki underground operations.Later media-friendly Mungiki spokes-person,Gitau Njguna was killed in cold blood.
The discontent here is that the police should carry out thorough and in-depth professional investigations before rushing to brand innocent youths 'wanted criminals' tainting their image in the public domain.
This is a key challenge to the government to honour its promises to the youths to create more job opportunities.Aristotle,a great Greek philosopher,once said that poverty is the mother of all crime.Indeed,the ever-escalating crime rate is caused by high poverty levels among the disillusioned Kenyan populace,especially the youth.This will only be achieved if transparency and accountability reigns in public institutions to coincide with the new dawn.
Wanderi wa Kamau,
Egerton University,Nakuru.
Massive reforms within the police force have been witnessed lately and this is a welcome move for Kenyans.Indeed,the recent vetting process for top-ranking officers within the force ha begun to change the Kenyans' attitude towards this crucial institution for a country's internal security.
Kenya's police force for long has been marred by high levels of corruption,nepotism,ignorance to the plight of Kenya's populace,non professionalism due to recruitment of unqualified recruits among many other negative attributes the force was engulfed in.
With the new constitutional dispensation therefore,the force is yet to fully reach the envisaged levels in the reform process.
For instance,the coming out of three young men from Nyeri to the public limelight to confess that they had wrongly been placed under 'the most wanted persons' list puts to questions the intelligence modalities that the police use to identify these suspects.
Flanked by the KNHR(Kenya National Human Rights Commission) officials and looking innocent,the three young men frankly said that they were ready to face the court and co-operate with the police force in identifying their misdeeds.
According to the new constitution section 25(a),it provides the rights and fundamental freedoms that a person is entitled to,one being the freedom from torture and cruel,inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.Contrary to this,the police have caused unnecessary psychological trauma to these young men by putting them in such a dreaded list .
For a long time,the civil society groups have been blamed to co-operate with criminals by the ploice thus becoming a' great impediment' in improving security levels in Kenya.
Since the NARC government took over power in 2003,hundreds of innocent young men especially from Central Kenya ,have been subjected to untold torture on grounds of being Mungiki suspects.Many of these jobless youths are still languishing in Kenyan prisons and cells because their cases are still pending or were convicted on malicious grounds.
When the UN special rapporteur to Kenya,Prof.Philip Alston, compiled a report to indicate the height of extra-judicial killings in Kenya,many leaders in the government stood up with every form of condemnation to the report,many saying it was biased and shallowly researched.
It was only a short time after he had presented his report when two Oscar Foundation activists,Samuel Kamau King'ara and Paul Oula were shot dead on allegations that they were linked to Mungiki underground operations.Later media-friendly Mungiki spokes-person,Gitau Njguna was killed in cold blood.
The discontent here is that the police should carry out thorough and in-depth professional investigations before rushing to brand innocent youths 'wanted criminals' tainting their image in the public domain.
This is a key challenge to the government to honour its promises to the youths to create more job opportunities.Aristotle,a great Greek philosopher,once said that poverty is the mother of all crime.Indeed,the ever-escalating crime rate is caused by high poverty levels among the disillusioned Kenyan populace,especially the youth.This will only be achieved if transparency and accountability reigns in public institutions to coincide with the new dawn.
Wanderi wa Kamau,
Egerton University,Nakuru.
