IG Boinnet perfects art of defying summons
Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet follows proceedings of MPs' induction retreat at Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi, on September 19, 2017. He has disregarded several court orders. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The appointment also appeared to have been done to appease leaders from Elgeyo-Marakwet County.
- His answer on police brutality in the October 2017 interview also left much to be desired.
From the way Inspector-General (IG) of Police Joseph Boinnet was appointed into office, Kenyans could tell they were going to have a bee in their bonnet on matters policing.
President Uhuru Kenyatta announced his nomination on December 31, 2014, just 12 days after he had assented to the Security Laws Amendment Bill that was designed to take away all the independence the police service as proclaimed by the 2010 Constitution.
The appointment also appeared to have been done to appease leaders from Elgeyo-Marakwet County who had demanded that because David Kimaiyo who had resigned as the IG earlier that month was from the county, the new one had to be from the same region.
Not many knew Mr Boinnet before his nomination and when he took over, cartoonists could not help noticing how his peaked cap seemed too big for his head, and often the top cop is illustrated as having his head eclipsed by his cap — perhaps a befitting metaphor of his bosses’ ‘influence’ over him.
COURT ORDERS
Now sitting at Jogoo House is a police boss at the Executive’s beck and call, so much so that even adherence to court orders appears not to be a priority for the 55-year-old former spy.
His no-show in court last week despite an order by High Court judge Luka Kimaru added to the list of the number of times Mr Boinnet has been summoned to court but did not appear.
On December 2017, High Court judge Joseph Sergon summoned him to court to explain why he had failed to arrest Defence Principal Secretary Saitoti Torome who had been jailed for six months for contempt of court.
Mr Boinnet did not honour the summons.
MIGUNA DETENTION
On September 2016, the High Court in Nakuru summoned the IG to explain why he had not arrested the Director of Pensions Shem Nyakutu also for defying a court order. Mr Boinnet did not appear.
Following his defiance of last week’s court order, Justice Kimaru on Thursday ordered that Mr Boinnet swears an affidavit by the next day and that he appears in court this Wednesday.
The case is on the detention and secret deportation of self-declared National Resistance Movement general Miguna Miguna.
Did he swear and file the affidavit? Will he appear in court on Wednesday? It is a matter of time before the answers come out.
But in the meantime, Mr Boinnet’s Friday remarks that the government will continue its crack down on “rogue leaders” (read pro-Nasa politicians) is not sitting well with the opposition, with Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi coming out to criticise his move.
“Mr Boinnet appears to be caught up in a time warp. His language at Kiganjo Police Station yesterday betrays a person whose mindset is stuck in the old Kanu single-party era,” Mr Wandayi shot on Saturday.
POLICE BRUTALITY
Speaking of Kanu-era mindsets, an interview Mr Boinnet gave NTV at the height of the heated political period last year has become a study on how to blatantly avoid answering questions.
When asked about the recent cases on police brutality against university students and young children, Mr Boinnet’s answer sent jaws dropping.
“These things, you don’t go and pick like picking fruits from a tree,” he said when asked about the status of investigations, which were long overdue.
His answer on police brutality in the October 2017 interview also left much to be desired.
But observers may think otherwise, given that as he enters his fourth year in office, it is debatable whether he has obeyed a provision in Article 245 of the Constitution that his office “shall exercise independent command over the National Police Service, and perform any other functions prescribed by national legislation”.
