Interior ministry responds to Raila Odinga's rigging claim

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Nkaissery at Safari Park Hotel and Casino in Nairobi in May 2017. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In his remarks earlier in the week, Orange Democratic Movement presidential candidate Raila Odinga referred to ongoing training at the Humanitarian Peace Support School at the Embakasi garrison in Nairobi.

  • The Interior ministry's spokesman Mwenda Njoka said the Multi-Agency Coordination Committee was created to ensure government activities are coordinated so that whenever different units are deployed together, they can work “seamlessly”.

The Interior ministry has moved to allay rigging fears raised by Orange Democratic Movement presidential candidate Raila Odinga and explained why security agencies undertake joint training at times.

The ministry’s spokesman Mr Mwenda Njoka said the Multi-Agency Coordination Committee was created to ensure government activities are coordinated so that whenever different units are deployed together, they can work “seamlessly”.

“In case of a crisis, we do it very well by ensuring response units work seamlessly and in a coordinated manner,” he said.

In his remarks earlier in the week, Mr Odinga was ostensibly referring to ongoing training at the Humanitarian Peace Support School at the Embakasi garrison in Nairobi.

He said the military was training the police in readiness to rig the General Election, together with the National Intelligence Service.

The training was launched by Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph ole Nkaissery on Monday and he is scheduled to close it on Friday.

It is being attended by officers from the Kenya Defence Forces, the Kenya Police Service, the Administration Police, the Kenya Wildlife Service, the Kenya Forest Service and the National Youth Service, which are commonly referred to as disciplined services. Also participating in the training are officers from the Nairobi Fire Brigade, the National Disaster Operations Centre and other non-governmental organisations such as the St John Ambulance, because they are involved in emergency services.

“Since the media was invited to Embakasi on Monday, this shows there is nothing to hide,” Mr Njoka said.