Ferry fracas: Soldiers, police in the soup
Police recruits during a past passing out parade. Top officials held a meeting in Mombasa on Monday in a bid to de-escalate tension following a brawl between soldiers and police at Likoni ferry.
Disciplinary action will be taken against soldiers and police officers if found to have breached the code of conduct after they were involved in a scuffle at Likoni ferry in Mombasa County on Saturday, a security committee has said.
The Likoni Sub-County Security Committee made the decision at a meeting held on Monday at the ferry headquarters. Representatives from the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and the National Police Service (NPS) attended the meeting.
“We don't want indiscipline among officers. We work for the same government and, therefore, we should have mutual respect,” Likoni Deputy County Commissioner Mwangi Wambugu told the Nation in an interview.
Mr Wambugu, who is the security committee chairman, Kenya Navy Base Mtongwe Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel John Mutabari, Likoni Sub-County Police Commander Geoffrey Ruheni and the head of security at Kenya Ports Authority Tony Kibwana attended the meeting.
Others present were representatives from the Kenya Ferry Services and officers from the National Intelligence Service.
It was agreed that the Military Police and the NPS conduct independent investigations into the incident, corroborate statements and propose suitable action against those found culpable.
The top officials held the meeting to first call a truce and to find out what sparked the outrage that led to a nasty brawl.
Mr Wambugu said initial investigations showed the confrontation was caused by miscommunication between the NPS officers manning the channel and the KDF soldiers.
It is reported that the soldiers arrived at the channel and tried to force their way through by “jumping the queue” to board the ferry. That caused a disagreement between them, private security guards and the police officers manning the ferry.
“There was a breakdown of communication. Our main aim is to find a remedy to ensure that such an incident does not occur again. We discussed about cooperation so that both security agencies work together as a team,” said Mr Wambugu.
After the closed-door meeting, the reconciliation team visited security officers at the ferry where the leadership from the Kenya Naval Base in Mtongwe and the NPS apologised. They promised to restore peace and tranquillity.
The meeting was also meant to de-escalate tension after the scuffle. This comes amid concerns that a complainant who reported the incident at the Likoni ferry police station does not wish to proceed with the case.
However, the committee in charge of the talks, insisted that disciplinary action would still be taken against anyone who crossed the line.
Members of the public are apprehensive after the incident, which is the third of its kind in recent times, occurred.
Similar incidents had earlier been reported in Turkana and another in Kilifi County.
