• Police should display name tags and numbers, even on helmets, commissions suggest.
• Force should be used to immobilise, not kill, if it all it has to be used, says Ipoa.
Image: ERNEST CORNEL
Poor election management is a key cause of ethnic antagonism and violent political competition, the Building Bridges to Unity Advisory Task Force has been told.
Appearing before the task force on Thursday, representatives of Chapter 15 commissions said election management and the conflict that ensues create an avenue for gross rights violation.
They accused the police of being a key tool used to exacerbate violence and abuse.
Kenya National Commission Human Rights called for the adoption of democratic policing to manage election security.
KNCHR chairperson Kagwiria Mbogori said this will help tame police omission and commission that have contributed to rights violations during elections.
“Seeking accountability for all violations that are attributed to members of National Police Service, including prosecutions, compensation, among others,” KNCHR recommended in the submission.
It called for total compliance of the NPS codes, specifically on the use of force and firearms.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority called for mandatory public order management training for officers to prepare them to deal with psychological challenges and policing demands.
“A policy on public order management, with clear guidelines and procedures for policing of public protests and gatherings, must be developed, understood and implemented by all officers,” Ipoa board member Praxedes Tororei said.
She said past management of pickets and demonstrations have been awful and unprofessional, causing unnecessary deaths and destruction, and heightening tensions.
To ensure accountability of individual officers during public order management, assigned officers should prominently display their identification, including visible name tags and the number of the officer; even on their helmets.
Ipoa further called on police to engage organisers of public protests and gatherings to reduce tension.
“These proactive engagements should, among others, agree on the timings and the routes to take. Further joint conferences with the organisers to assure the public of their security and safety, and enhance community policing in the country,” the authority said.
It called on officers to remain non-partisan.
“Use of coercive and deadly force during public order management should be avoided at all costs, and when used, it should be only to immobilise the victim but not to kill. Loss of life should be discouraged,” Tororei said.
Professor Yash Pal Ghai told the task force that Kenya is troubled and it is getting worse.
“Theft of public resources, ethnicity, bad police reputations, both abroad and local, and government doing little to remedy matters are what ails us, with police regarded as aspects of Kenyan business community," he said.
These troubles, Ghai said, are because of failure to adhere to constitutional dictates.
“We have twisted the character of elections by ethnicisation, which political parties have perfected. Ethnicity is used to exclude others from political participation, which should not be the case,” he said.
"Fraud engineered by political candidates is the hallmark of our electoral system at all levels. This calls for improvement of the system, but key being its integrity."
Ghai said police are the worst offenders and drivers of insecurity.
"I wish police can serve the poor and vulnerable without being a threat to them. We also need to move away from ethnic divisions as well as bridge the rich-poor divide," he said.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)