•He blamed politicians for giving out the handouts and monetary promises that are not met.
•The CS said there have been four incidents of violence in the past months and they were all linked to handouts and unmet promises.
Image: CYRUS OMBATI
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has said the country is generally safe and ready to hold the August polls, unlike in the past when there were political tribal groupings.
“The police have presented their reports on the preparedness of the election and we are content we are ready,” he said.
The CS blamed bribery, handouts and unmet promises for incidents of electoral violence witnessed in parts of the country.
He blamed politicians for giving out handouts and monetary promises that are not met.
Matiang'i spoke on Monday after meeting a multi-agency team to discuss election preparedness at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.
He said there have been four incidents of violence in the past months and they were all linked to handouts and unmet promises.
“Police officers are not responsible for mediating disputes of handouts or failed promises. Let us have decent campaigns and be responsible,” he said.
“The endemic false promising of money to the people, bribery, failing young people and sometimes mismanaging those organisations on the ground and causing conflict remains a challenge.”
He said the team will be meeting monthly to review the election preparations.
Those present were the National Police Service, officials from Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji, chairman of National Cohesion and Integration Commission chairman Samuel Kobia and the intelligence community among others.
He said Kenyans are not ganging up against each other until they are mobilised by politicians.
He told politicians to stop harassing public servants and abusing them while on duty.
“Don’t be intimidated by politicians. Attacking those with no platform to defend themselves is immoral,” the CS said.
He said they will increase police deployments ahead of the election.
The CS said politics and common sense are not mutually exclusive as he responded to claims by some UDA politicians that police were abetting violence in some areas.
Matiang’i said terrorism remains a threat in the country and urged the public to continue being vigilant.
“Don’t drop the guard. The threat is real and out there. We have disrupted many terror plans through public cooperation but we urge for continued help to tame this problem,” he said.
Police in the past were blamed for some of the violence witnessed in the country.
NPS was criticised for using extreme force on opposition supporters over the past four months leading to and after the 2017 general elections.
There have also been concerns that some police officers are suffering from psychosocial issues, which are affecting the service’s image.
During the meeting, commanders said they have developed elaborate security and intelligence strategy to ensure the elections are peaceful.
Some form of violence has accompanied almost every election in Kenya’s history, pattern authorities want to end.
Areas deemed to be flashpoints for violence have been mapped and police will be ready to avert a repeat of 2007-08.
After the presidential result of the 2007 general election was disputed, violence erupted, leading to the death of over 1,000 people.
Many others were displaced.
An inquiry into the post-election violence pointed to the police as being ill-prepared, partisan and heavy-handed in trying to quell the chaos.
The police are using intelligence and preparing for various scenarios that could play out based on various stages in the exercise.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris