Don't politicise NIS, Duale says

Garissa Town MP Aden Duale has warned against politicising the National Intelligence Service saying it should be allowed to work professionally.

Speaking on Sunday at Imammalik Islamic school in his Garissa township constituency, Duale said it was wrong to for public officers to start quoting unsubstantiated data purporting to be from the NIS.

His remarks were in reference to Interior PS Karanja Kibicho’s claims last week that an NIS report showed Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga was headed for a round one win at the August polls with 60 per cent of the vote.  

In an apparent barb directed at Deputy President William Ruto, Kibicho accused the DP's camp of playing politics of perception to influence the public despite intelligence data showing that Raila was ahead.

“It is a first round win. This is intelligence data and that’s what it's saying. It is about 60 per cent,” Kibicho said in an interview on Citizen TV.

Duale criticised the remarks saying the intelligence service should be left to deal with national security.

“Our NIS is the best intelligence service in Africa, it is the most professional service. they are non partisan. They are supposed to deal with national security,” Duale said.

“Functions of the National Intelligence Service are well documented in the Constitution and the National Intelligence Act. They don’t conduct opinion polls nor do they share intelligence in the public or in rallies,” he added.

“So we are telling those public officials who want to purport to quote data from the intelligence service that is the wrong route to take. Let us not politicise the NIS. Let us respect them and allow them to do their work professionally.”

Last week, Ruto dismissed Kibicho’s remarks saying the intelligence report he is privy to spoke nothing about poll victories.

"I'm the deputy president of Kenya. After the intelligence report is handed to the president, it comes to me," Ruto said.

"In fact, our intelligence report that NIS has released is that Kenya Kwanza is ahead by 8 per cent against our competitors," Ruto added.