Ipoa seeks power of arrest for NIS agents

What you need to know:

  • Ipoa Chairman Macharia Njeru told the National Assembly Committee on Security collecting public views on the controversial Bill, that giving the intelligence officers powers to arrest would make them perform police functions.
  • The police oversight authority also asked for the deletion of the clause that limits the maximum jail term for police officers to 10 years, saying, it is inconsistent with existing laws.
  • He asked for an additional clause to enable the authority have its officers seize firearms of police officers suspected of committing crimes.

The police oversight authority wants NIS officers given powers to arrest as suggested in the Security Laws (amendment) Bill.

This, the Independent Police Oversight Authority (Ipoa) says, will make the officers more accountable by being subjected to similar procedures as the police.

MAXMUM JAIL TERM

Ipoa Chairman Macharia Njeru told the National Assembly Committee on Security collecting public views on the controversial Bill, that giving the intelligence officers powers to arrest would make them perform police functions.

“The effect of clause 62 (5) is that NIS officers will be doing similar roles as the police. For that, they should be subjected to the same accountability procedures as the police,” Mr Njeru said.

The police oversight authority also asked for the deletion of the clause that limits the maximum jail term for police officers to 10 years, saying, it is inconsistent with existing laws.

He asked for an additional clause to enable the authority have its officers seize firearms of police officers suspected of committing crimes.

“Currently, we have a situation where police officers take the firearms themselves to the ballistics for investigation. There are cases where the firearms are tampered with and not admissible in court. We want those powers to seize the firearms and produce them in court as evidence,” he said.