NASA has told Inspector General of police Joseph Boinnet to stop meddling in politics and concentrate on securing the country during the election period.
Presidential candidate Raila Odinga yesterday accused the police of planning to engage in roles outside their mandate during the polls.
He was reacting to claims that police will not allow voters to hang around polling stations after casting their ballots.
The Interior ministry has also discouraged assemblies around the voting stations to avoid interference with the balloting.
“From a security point of view, people should vote and leave so that you don’t compromise or interfere with the exercise,” Interior ministry spokesperson Mwenda Njoka told the Star yesterday.
NASA in its vote protection strategy is relying on voters to keep vigil around the polling stations until the last vote is counted and the final results declared.
In the past, police have insisted that only accredited IEBC agents, journalists, poll observers and poll officials are allowed around polling centres.
Yesterday in Kiminini, Trans Nzoia county, Raila faulted the move, accusing the police of over-stepping their constitutional mandate.
“I want to issue a stern warning to the police Inspector General; your mandate is to secure the country and do not meddle in politics,” he said.
“If people have voted and are hanging around the polling station, where is the problem?”
The opposition is planning to have at least five agents in all the 41,000 polling stations, with three of the five agents keeping surveillance outside the voting room.
The team will mainly ensure everyone in each voting centre casts their vote and detect any anomaly that may compromise tallying at the polling station level.
On Wednesday when launching the adopt-a-polling-station vote protection strategy, Raila also told supporters not to go home but to hang around their voting stations until results are declared.
“You can choose to cater for the daily allowances of any of our agents at a polling station or perhaps even keep vigil until the last vote is counted and results announced,” he said.
Raila was with his running mate Kalonzo Musyoka and NASA principals Musalia Mudavadi, Moses Wetang’ula and Isaac Rutto.
The leaders accused the Jubilee administration of running down the country’s economy, citing the current high cost of living that has made life difficult for many Kenyans.
The NASA team will today comb through Bungoma county in its vote-hunting mission.