• The DP said police commanders will be instructed not to send junior officers to go and interrogate elected governor.
• He added that county commissioners and police commanders will be instructed to respect the people's choice at the ballot by respecting their choice of leaders.
Image: DPPS
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has assured governors and their deputies that the era of being intimidated and disrespected by junior state officers is over.
The DP said on Thursday that all elected leaders will be treated with dignity even on matters where they are deemed to have broken the law.
"There is no way you can send a corporal or a constable to interrogate a sitting governor. If you want you must look at the various levels in the security sectors, we engage at that level so that there is dignity and decorum," Gachuagua said.
The DP spoke on Thursday during the governors and deputy governors induction in Mombasa.
He said this is the new way the Kenya Kwanza administration will relate with elected leaders contrary to the arbitrary arrests that were synonymous with the Jubilee administration.
"If there is an issue that needs to be addressed, it should be. We are not saying we don't fight graft but let us be decent people. Let the head of that particular organisation write a letter to the governor himself and not delegate to some junior officers to address a sitting governor," Gachagua said.
The respect, he added, will not be a preserve of governors but all elected leaders including MPs, Women Reps, senators and MCAs.
"I want to assure you that once the top leadership has addressed the issue of attitude towards elected governors, that respect will trickle down to the bottom.
"We have told the DCI to go back to Kiambu Road and wait for crimes to be reported there. They have no business in government offices hovering all over and creating a toxic environment for service delivery."
Gachagua said police commanders will be instructed not to send junior officers to go and interrogate elected leaders.
He added that county commissioners and police commanders respect the sovereign will of the people by respecting their choice of leaders at the ballot.
"And we will tell these officials, if you cannot work with an elected governor, the choices are very narrow. A governor cannot go on transfer he has just to stay there, it's you to align yourself with elected leaders," Gachagua said.
The DP said he will convene regional meetings with county commissioners shortly after the formation of Cabinet to brief them on the matter.
He said governors and assistant commissioners will sit on the meetings "so that we align them properly on the new way of doing things in this country."
"The era of summoning meetings and lecturing elected leaders like children must come to an end," Gachagua said.
He told the governors and their deputies that there are no boundaries in the Kenya Kwanza administration and asked them to disregard the political formations they were elected on and work together.
"Our policy is less and less government in people's lives and more and more services to the people of Kenya."