Opposition chief Raila Odinga has opened a new war front with President Uhuru Kenyatta, whom he accuses of abusing his powers by reshuffling top police officers last week.
In his first reaction to the changes announced by the President last Friday, Mr Odinga accused President Kenyatta of taking over the powers of the National Police Service Commission and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority in his appointment and deployment of the senior officers.
“The open recruitment further paints a pattern of systematic undermining of supposedly independent constitutional offices in a bid to cement dictatorship and resurrect personal rule,” Mr Odinga said in a statement that could form the basis of a fierce clash between opposition and Jubilee MPs when the National Assembly resumes next month.
REDEPLOY
In the changes, President Kenyatta redeployed Joel Kitili, Samuel Arachi and Ndegwa Muhoro, who were the heads of the regular police, the Administration Police and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
He replaced them with Edward Njoroge Mbugua, Noor Yarao Gabow and George Maingi Kinoti, respectively in an acting capacity.
The law, however, allows the President to redeploy senior officers before the conclusion of their terms of service. Section 17 of the National Police Service Act states: “The President may remove, retire or redeploy a Deputy Inspector-General at any time before the Deputy Inspector-General attains the age of retirement.”
The National Police Service Commission Act and its regulations also provide for the appointment of the senior officers in an acting capacity “provided that she or he meets the requirements for the position in question.”
The officers appointed in an acting capacity can only serve for half a year as the regulations state: “Appointments in an acting capacity shall not be for more than six months.”
All these changes to the laws were made through the controversial Security Laws Amendment Act of 2014, the passage of which was marred by violence and a legal challenge by the opposition.
RETAINED
The High Court struck out eight sections of the Act but retained the ones on human resource changes in the police.
President Kenyatta said as he announced the changes that he acted on the advice of the National Police Service Commission and had consulted the Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet.
On Tuesday, Mr Odinga said the President is “sneaking back the imperial presidency and the personal rule that caused so much pain to this country,” a reference to the days under Daniel arap Moi when the police did the President’s bidding.
“The spirit of the Constitution and the mood of the people of Kenya is that the National Police Service and indeed all independent constitutional offices must remain independent particularly of the presidency and free from political interference,” said Mr Odinga.
DROPPED
“We do not hold any brief for any of police officers who have been dropped. We equally have nothing against the officers appointed to replace them. We, however, feel firmly that the spirit of our hard won Constitution must be respected and that nobody must sneak back into the country the personalisation of the State and its organs,” he added.
Mr Odinga said the public has a right to know why public officers are being hired or fired and wondered whether it was because they failed in their duties and how their replacements were identified.
When the laws were changed in December 2014, President Kenyatta seized the opportunity and nominated Mr Boinnet as Inspector-General at a time when the security sector had been overwhelmed by terror attacks by Al-Shabaab.
Keriako Tobiko, the first DPP under the Constitution, was said to have resigned and is one of three new Cabinet Secretary nominees, although his portfolio has not been made public.
