This archive report was first published on 20 August 2019.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i has announced a major overhaul of the police force, with a key aim of improving security in the country.
Speaking yesterday, Matiang'i declared that all police officers who have served in one station for more than four years will be transferred, in a bid to de-localize police stations.
The redeployment, scheduled to begin next month, will affect both junior and senior officers, and is aimed at breaking down the close relationships between police officers and local communities, which can sometimes lead to corruption and laxity in policing.
At the same time, Matiang'i announced that the government had deployed General Service Unit (GSU) officers to hunt down killer gangs in Matungu sub-county, Kakamega county, following the recent wave of killings that has claimed 20 lives in two months.
The CS, who visited the troubled area yesterday, asked the residents to prepare for a major operation targeting the gangs who have been raiding homes at night.
He said the operation would continue until all the suspects are arrested, and warned that a key suspect believed to have been coordinating the killings from Kawangware, Nairobi has been arrested.
“If you are part of this gang surrender to the police within 14 days,” Matiang’i said, adding that preliminary investigations had established that senior politicians were sponsoring the gangs.
He also announced plans to redeploy police officers based on their home counties, saying “We are going to look into the list and make sure that if you come from Nyamira, you will be deployed in Kwale or Garissa. This will help in improving our security.”
The CS was accompanied by Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai, MPs Justus Murunga (Matungu) Ben Washiali (Mumias East) and Justus Kizito (Shinyalu), who blamed the local police officers for laxity in combating the crime that has escalated to various parts of the county.
