Detectives meet at police headquarters as poll chaos probe continues
Detectives investigating the post-election violence cases are scheduled to meet at the National Police Service headquarters today as investigations enter the third day.
Officers drawn from the Homicide, Land Fraud Unit and Gender Units of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), have for the last two days been recording statements from victims mostly from some parts of the Rift Valley region.
Investigation has attracted protests, especially from Deputy President William Ruto’s allies, who have maintained that revisiting the cases was aimed at reviving the International Criminal Court case against him.
Yesterday, DCI boss George Kinoti, however, clarified that the ongoing probe will only deal with matters that were never finalised.
Despite the uproar over what was perceived as revisiting the PEV cases, Kinoti maintained that they were mandated to investigate all reports, especially in cases the members of public raise concerns.
“We remain true to our mandate to prevent disrupt and deter crime before it occurs.
Whenever the DCI receives such complaints from a person or a group of persons regarding a threat to their security, we are duty bound to investigate expeditiously without any favour or prejudice,” he said in a statement yesterday.
“If, in the course of investigations we find that a particular case was determined by the courts, we do not re-open such a case.
This is because nobody can be subjected to double jeopardy as defined in our country’s Constitution,” he said.
The move comes amid reports that a top security organ had raised concerns over inflammatory utterances, both by locals and political leaders, warning that they were likely to cause chaos in the country.
According to the agency, any violence would be exacerbated by a number of factors, and has to be nipped in the bud.
One of the challenges in detecting and preventing chaos, according to detectives, is the increased use of social media, which can allow a group of people to plan without necessarily meeting physically.
Another concern by the security agencies is the boda boda transport that has become a popular and entrenched in both rural and urban areas.
Kinoti said the exercise will go on without fear or favour.
“While arbitrating between conflicting parties, we give audience to all without favouritism to ensure an amicable solution is achieved,” he said.
