Muhuri director Khelef
Khalifa in Malindi shortly after being released after over three hours of
detention /BRIAN OTIENOSecurity personnel
should explore alternative ways of conducting their operations in high-risk
areas instead of inconveniencing passengers, motorists and other road users,
especially along the Malindi-Lamu highway, rights activists have said.
Muhuri, Haki Africa
and She Rises said on Tuesday there are better ways to find contraband and
other dangerous items that may be smuggled into and out of the country using
panya routes.
This is
particularly so when the security personnel develop a better working relationship
and collaborate with citizens.
“There have been complaints about the permanent roadblocks, where all passengers and motorists are forced to alight from their vehicles and undergo thorough security checks. To us, we feel that is not right,” Muhuri director Khelef Khalifa said.
He spoke in Malindi on Tuesday evening, when he was released after more than three hours of detention by the Special Operations Group (SOG) manning the Malindi-Lamu highway.
Khalifa and four
other rights activists, including Muhuri’s Francis Auma, She Rises’ Salma
Hemed, and Haki Africa’s Mathias Shipeta and Atrash Mohame, had confronted the
SOG personnel in Fundisa on the Malindi-Lamu highway, just past Gongoni
and before Marereni.
He said such “excessive
securitisation of the coastal corridor does not happen anywhere else in the country”.
“When (Mwai) Kibaki became President, he ordered all permanent roadblocks removed
from the roads. He directed there be roadblocks only in specific areas and
only when necessary. And after the necessity is over, remove them,”
Khalifa noted.
He said this is the
11th year the Minjila-Lamu road has a curfew enforced from 6 pm
to 7 am.
“This effectively
leaves only a six-hour window for daytime travel between Mombasa and Lamu.
“While we recognise
the security concerns arising from past al Shabaab attacks, incidents that had not occurred
for quite some time, it is unjust and counterproductive to collectively punish
civilians for the continued failure of security agencies to effectively
neutralise such threats,” read a letter written to Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen by
five rights groups including Muhuri, Haki Africa, She Rises, Vocal Africa and
Bajuni Council of Elders.
However, an officer
in the SOG told the Star it is precisely because of such security operations
on the Malindi-Lamu highway that the activists say the insecurity incidents have
not occurred in quite a while.
The SOG is an elite
unit within the National Police Service focused on high-stakes operations like
counter-terrorism and anti-banditry.
Operatives undergo
rigorous training in marksmanship, stealth and combat to combat threats like
al Shabaab.
“We intercept a lot
of bad things but we never go for publicity. You will never see us call for a
press conference to announce that we have intercepted drugs, contraband goods,
or terror suspects carrying dangerous weapons that could harm Kenyans,” the officer
told the Star.
The officer said were
it not for such vehicle check points (VCPs) there would have been terror attacks
and more drugs and contraband goods in major towns like Malindi, Kilifi,
Mombasa and Nairobi.
“When was the last
time you heard of a major terror attack in Kenya? Do you think these enemies
are asleep and are not trying to get into Kenya?” the SOG officer posed.
“These soldiers
have sacrificed themselves to protect fellow Kenyans from enemies. They should
be encouraged by being commended for their selflessness instead of being
vilified.”
Armed with a court
ruling that required all officers on duty should not in any way hide or obscure
their faces to render them unidentifiable, Khalifa confronted the SOG
personnel at Fundisa on Tuesday.
However, a security
expert said there is need for balance between activism and national security.
Abdikadir Dekow
said the court ruling was based on officers deployed in the course of an
assembly, demonstration of picketing, and not high-risk security areas like
Lamu.
He said nowadays
police officers live within communities and not in camps like before.
Those who are
engaged in high-risk operations must protect their identities because of the
sensitivity of their operations and because they live within communities, lest
they be targeted.
“If an officer
intercepts like the Sh8.2 billion drugs that was nabbed the other day, would the
owner be happy with them? What if they had their faces uncovered and the person
caught with them takes a photo and sends to the master, don’t you think this
officer would be pursued for disrupting a multibillion-shilling business?” Dekow posed.
The former Interpol
officer said it is security protocol worldwide for any security officer
involved in high-risk operations to cover their faces to conceal their
identity.
“I was shocked when
I saw Khalifa shouting at an SOG officer telling him to uncover their face. They
are not supposed to. That is the rule,” he said.
The SOG operations
are sanctioned by the National Security Council, according to one of the SOG
personnel.
Kenya's National Security Council consists of the
President, Deputy President, the Cabinet secretaries for Defence, Foreign
Affairs and Internal Security, the Attorney General, the Chief of the Kenya
Defence Forces, the director general of the National Intelligence Service, and
the Inspector General of the National Police Service.
The President
chairs all meetings of the council.
Apart from the Fundisa
vehicle check point, there are at least three others at Kanyonyo near Mwingi town, Kina and Archer’s Post.
Dekow said all regular
police officers are not supposed to hide their identities.
“Human rights activists should not go beyond their limits. Those officers along the Malindi-Lamu highway are selflessly defending our country so that those very activists can be safe,” he said.
Instant Analysis:
On Tuesday, five rights activists and three journalists were detained for at least three hours when a confrontation between SOG officers and the activists occurred in Fundisa on the Malindi-Lamu highway. After talks between top security personnel and the activists, the eight were released. But there emerged questions about the delicate balance between patriotism, national security and human rights.
