We're prepared to oversee skirmishes-free polls – Matiang'i

The government is prepared to oversee elections devoid of skirmishes, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has assured Kenyans.

He said President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the ministry to start preparing for transitional elections as early as 2018. He said this is because most such polls are characterised by tension and the President does not intend to oversee an acrimonious transition.

Over the last 10 years, the government has invested heavily in strengthening its security apparatus and has increased the police force with more than 100,000 officers.

Annually, the government has been employing about 10,000 police officers, which has reduced their ratio to Kenyans from 1:900 to 1:600.

“Police officers then would say they did not have fuel to go to the people. Deputy county commissioners did not have vehicles. We have released 2,700 new vehicles to security officers,” the CS said.

“We have done a lot to beef up our security and I'm proud to say our security is totally different from what it was in 2013.” 

He said although the country has pockets of insecurity, resources have been deployed to address the issue.

In Marsabit, there haven’t been any insecurity incidents in the last one month after the government mopped up more than 300 guns and over 3,000 bullets.

Matiang’i said the prevalence of insecurity incidences is currently less than a quarter of those experienced at the same time in 2017.

The CS spoke to clergymen from Murang’a South ACK church at Kenol Cathedral on Friday.

He cited hate speech and terrorism as some of the challenges the government is facing.

Terrorists, he said, are changing tactics and have invaded the cyberspace, but the government is putting in place measures to increase security officers’ capacity to handle them.

He also said the government is working with Interpol to rein in drug traffickers and money launderers.

“We have noticed that in this year’s elections, a good number of aspirants are people who describe themselves as businesspeople without revealing what businesses they do,” Matiang'i said.

“Some of them, we have seen how much money they have been giving out to Kenyans, trying to influence them and to commercialise the political enterprise.”

Matiang’i said his ministry will support IEBC to put in place a campaign financing regulatory framework to ensure politicians are held accountable for the money they spend during campaigns.

Other than hiring more than 1,000 new administrators, the government has trained more unspecialised units of security services in collaboration with other countries that have gone through difficult security challenges.

“You will not know them, they are sometimes dressed in civilian clothing but are deadly in terms of the training they have. We deploy some of them even in supermarkets to be sure Kenyans are safe,” the CS said.

In major cities, the government has ensured there is sufficient capacity to respond to challenges within a short time, he said.

Security officers, Matiang'i said, will ably man all polling stations during the election.

Police officers will be issued with guidelines on how to conduct themselves during the polls, guided by IEBC.

“For our officers, when you go to a polling station, the boss is the IEBC official not your commanding officer,” Matiang'i said.

The government has also invested heavily in digitalising security services, with some police stations now having digital occurrence books to minimise disappearances of files.

It has invested in technologies that have made it possible for the Inspector General of Police to know what is happening in most parts of the country right from his office.

The CS said the ministry will enforce the law once the IEBC declares the winner of the presidential elections.

“What we are supposed to do is prepare instruments of handover and complete the transition. No one can hold the country to ransom. We will enforce the law. If you don’t like the results, go to court. If you don’t, then you will meet with us and we will not treat you very kindly,” he said.

Matiang’i said once Kenyans have made their decision, aspirants have no choice but to accept the verdict or challenge it in court.

The CS defended the decision of some CSs to make political affiliations maintaining that it does not alter their sense of duty.

“There is duty and affiliation. As public officers, we know what our duty is and that is to defend the Constitution of the country. We will do that,” Matiang'i said.

His ICT counterpart Joe Mucheru said their political affiliation is informed by the fact that they are privy to information that causes them to take sides.

 He, however, said it is their duty to inform Kenyans on the path they think is right and that they have not done anything illegal.

“Ruto is also in the office and has taken a side. He is working with governors who are still in office. In the end, Kenyans will make up their mind on the leader they want,” he said.

Edited by A.N