10 Local Human Rights Groups Ask Matiangi, Kibicho To Keep Off Politics Ahead Of August 9 Polls

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 14- Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiangi and the Ministry’s Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho have been asked to keep off politics, as the country enters the homestretch ahead of the General elections.

The appeal was made by a consortium of 10 local human rights organizations, among them the Independent Medico-Legal Unit and the Kenya National Human Rights Commission under the banner of Civic Freedoms Forum.

Addressing journalists on Thursday, representatives of the organizations cautioned that continued involvement in political affairs by Matiangi and Kibicho can easily lead to an “erosion of confidence in security agencies”.

“We would like to call upon those in charge of security, especially during these final days of campaigns and also during the counting and announcement of results that they must at all costs take a position of impartiality,” IMLU Executive Director Peter Kiama said.

Civic Freedoms Forum is a national platform comprised of civil society organizations (CSOs) operating at the national level with a track record and commitment to the protection of human rights, civil liberties, and democracy.

The IMLU Executive Director said the organisations were disappointed by political utterances made by CS Matiangi and PS Kibicho and their decision to attend and participate in political rallies.

The two have openly supported Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga, who is President Uhuru Kenyatta’s preferred successor.

“We are recommending that they keep off political engagements and focus on securing all of us because security is important,” Kiama said.

CFF also expressed concern over the readiness of security officers deployed to secure election venues and materials saying the National Police Service is ill-prepared to manage law and order as part of its obligation to support IEBC in conducting polls.

“We believe from our assessment that less than 50 percent of police officers have been trained on the manual or pocketbook including prison officers who will be deployed to back up the police,” Kiama said.

He raised concern over plans to deploy about 5,000 recruits who began training in March 2022 saying the officers may not be competent enough to manage election security.

“We are concerned that they might not be prepared enough as police officers because they have not yet graduated, and the plan was to bring them as a backup. We have seen before where police officers who have not been properly inducted, they resort very quickly to violence in the first instance,” Kiama stated.

Kiama called on the Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai to be fair in the deployment of resources including finances and exercise a high level of professionalism during the exercise.