Interior CS Nkaissery defends police over extrajudicial killing reports

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery has asked Kenyans not to judge the entire police force by the actions of a “few rogue elements.”

Mr Nkaissery did not deny that some police officers had been involved in criminal activity and the illegal use of firearms, but he maintained that the situation was not as bad as it was being represented.

“Figures presented in the report to try and justify its wild allegations were grossly wrong and not verified,” he said, referring to a report in the Sunday Nation.

Speaking in the wake of recent reports of alleged extrajudicial killings by police officers, Mr Nkaissery said the reports were meant to incite the public against the police.

“Our concern is the lack of objectivity, obvious bias and palpable misrepresentation of facts in reportage,” he said.

On Monday, police officers gunned down four robbery suspects and seized a firearm and a motorcycle that is believed to have been used in criminal activities.

Recent reports by human rights lobbies have condemned “unwarranted” killings by police and even linked the disappearances of some Kenyans to police activity.

Mr Nkaissery said police officers often encounter armed criminals and some officers “have been killed and others grievously harmed” in the line of duty.

The law clearly stipulates cases where officers are justified in using firearms to defend themselves and the public, he said.

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority has received some 5,784 complaints about police officers, 4,454 of which were dismissed as “baseless”.

The minister said that only two per cent of all reported cases have resulted in the prosecution of the officers involved.