Interior CS Fred Matiang’i warns police on rights abuses

Interior CS Fred Matiang’i has warned police against violating the rights of Kenyans.

The CS asked the police to embrace criticism and change their attitude towards work to be more effective.

Dr Matiang’i said the ministry would not condone abuse of citizens’ rights.

“We need to embrace the civil society, the human rights groups and civilians because they play a critical role in ensuring that we deliver on our mandate,” Dr Matiang’i (below) said on Tuesday.

PRISON COMMANDERS

He was speaking at the Kenya School of Government when he met top security officials, who included the Inspector-General Joseph Boinnet, the deputy inspectors-general, Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti, police commanders, heads of formations and units and prison commanders.

He urged security chiefs to stop blame games whenever something goes wrong, and instead work to rectify the situation.

“There are areas where we have made mistakes and in most cases, we have rectified them. However, there is more that we need to do,” he said.

He warned police officers that they would be held personally responsible if they are found to have violated the rights of civilians while enforcing the law.

ACTION TAKEN

“I was, like any other Kenyan, angered by a video of a police officer from Industrial Area who was caught on video stepping on a civilian. I have confirmed that action has been taken against the officer and we have done this with many other cases,” he said.

The CS asked the Inspector-General to regularly release police reports on crime so that Kenyans can be updated on the progress of fighting insecurity.

“We should also openly tell Kenyans on cases that have been concluded so that they are updated,” Dr Matiang’i.

The CS urged the security bosses to work together instead of “unnecessarily competing against one another”.