Kenya’s Police boss has defended the police force against accusations that it used excessive force during the recent post-election violence that hit the country early this year. The Police Commissioner became the first witness to appear before a commission investigating the post-election violence which was formed after the Kofi Annan led talks that saw the country return to normalcy after the signing of the Grand Coalition deal between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The police boss who calls shots in the country’s security fraternity has denied allegations that the police force comprised its mandate at a time when the country needed it support most.

The police chief termed the accusations as false and unjustifiable, saying if the force had not acted the way it did, the magnitude of deaths and destruction of property would have been much higher. He explained that the use of force by police officers to quell the violence was done in a measurable and proportionate manner in order to control the post poll chaos.

The tough talking man maintained that his officers acted within the law in discharging their duties and clarified that those whose conduct was questionable have already been taken care off and are under investigations.

The police boss told the commission not to allow blame to be laid upon the police officers saying they executed their mandate to the best of their practice.

The Commissioner said:

It is unfortunate that police officers were accused of excessive force but nothing was done outside the limitation of the law, accusation against use of force is false and unwarranted.

He at the same time, dismissed the allegations of shoot to kill orders as fiction saying, the police offices takes appropriate measures when dealing with issues of security.

While being examined by the commission’s lead counsel, the commissioner said that use of live bullets is always limited in any police operations as they normally use rubber or blank bullets.
Further, the police boss pointed out that the police force only receives orders regarding administrative issues but not security matters, as they are an in independent entity.

He maintained that the use of other forces including the military, Administration police was to assist in quelling the post poll chaos adding that during the said operation, the forces were receiving orders from the police commissioner. And distancing the police officers from the allegations, he accused members of the public, politicians and use of negative ethnicity as the major causes of fracas witnessed last December.

He also confirmed that 616 people lost their lives in the violence, out of which 58 bodies have not been identified. Among the deaths, were six police officers and one District Officer.
Currently, the police commissioner clarified that 13, 416 cases are under investigations and others have already been completed,
The police chief was also quick to clarify that all suspects have been arraigned in court adding that some of them have already been released on bail while others are still in custody.
And on statistics relating to the violence, the police boss revealed that at least 42, 582 buildings both private, public and government were destroyed, 253 vehicles were torched and 266,104 persons were internally displaced.

On the factors that contributed to the violence, the police boss pointed out that Majimboisim (federal government) debate, allegations of rigging, ethnic tension, use of banned criminal gangs, and use of crude weapons and biasness of the media are the major contributors to the crisis.

Notably, the police was at that time put on the spot over allegations that it used excessive force in quelling the violence that rocked the country for almost two months. The commission has been on a fact-finding mission across the country on the root cause of the violence.