• Health CS Mutahi Kagwe on Saturday said the 'incidents' have been reviewed and going forward the situation is expected to improve.
• On Friday night, security officers were captured brutalising those who found themselves outside after the 7pm deadline -- and some were beaten up on their way home.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
Faced by public fury over police curfew brutality, the government said on Saturday "mishaps" were expected on the first night of the 7pm to-5am curfew.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe aid on Saturday the 'incidents' have been reviewed and going forward the situation is expected to improve..
On Friday night, security officers were captured on film brutalising those who found themselves outside after the 7pm deadline -- and many before the deadline.
In Mombasa, police were seen beating residents at the Likoni Crossing Channel two hours before the deadline.
But CS Kagwe told reporters, "It was inevitable that mishaps would be there. "Going forward, we hope that the situation will be a matter of the past."
He said that employers should release employees in good time so that they can be home in good time before the curfew.
"We are all asked to sacrifice because of this situation and therefore it would be unfair for employers to hold unto employees for them only to be rounded up by security officers before they get home," he said
The Council of Governors called police behaviour 'despicable'.
In other areas, motorists were ordered out of their vehicles and beaten by the officers.
In Nairobi, thousands of commuters were left stranded in the cold after matatu operators closed shop in fear of the wrath of the GSU and other security forces.
Those who were found were not spared and majority were forced to seek safety in police stations.
The Law Society of Kenya has promised to go to court on Monday to challenge the curfew directive which they termed unconstitutional.
President Nelson Havi said the National Police Service has no right or justification whatsoever for using corporal punishment.
Deputy President William Ruto said police must use firmness, civility and restraint in enforcing the curfew.
Everyone must obey the curfew, the Deputy President said.
"Law enforcers must at act firmly but with restraint and civility," he said on his Twitter account.
“Fellow citizens, the corona pandemic is serious, very serious. The Government of Kenya curfew (partial lockdown) is meant to curtail movement so as to reduce the spread of the virus,” Ruto said.
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho said he was appalled by the way security agencies had handled the situation.
"Let us be humane, not brutal. my people need help and not beating. They said 7pm but why are they beating innocent people at 4pm and to make it worse, they were waiting on a queue," the governor said.
Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen who said, "Every law an /directive is meant to cure a particular kind of mischief. The curfew is meant to curb the spread of Covid-19, not to torture Kenyans.
"The security managers are behaving as though they have a grudge against Kenyans and are using Covid-19 as an excuse for revenge. This must stop forthwith."
(Edited by V. Graham)