Friday, August 16, 2024 – Protesters will continue to be brutalized and abducted by police officers in plainclothes and unmarked vehicles despite the ban by the court.
This is according to former
Police Spokesperson Charles Owino, who revealed that the courts cannot stop the
police from doing their job.
In a ruling on Wednesday, High
Court Judge Bahati Mwamuye ordered the Inspector General (IG) of the National
Police Service to ensure that plainclothed officers do not mask their faces or
obscure the identification of vehicles when dealing with protestors during
demonstrations.
However, speaking during an
interview, Owino shed some light on the practical challenges of implementing
the order.
He questioned the feasibility of
such directives, terming them unpractical.
“You cannot stop the Directorate
of Criminal Investigations (DCI) from operating the way they are supposed to
operate,” he stated, adding that it would be unreasonable to expect DCI
officers, who traditionally operate covertly, to start wearing uniforms or
using government-marked vehicles.
The former police spokesperson
emphasized that the use of unmarked vehicles by DCI officers is standard
procedure.
“You cannot ask them to have GK vehicles, they don't have.
"They are using unmarked vehicles. Not actually
unmarked, but civilian plate vehicles,” Owino asserted, highlighting the
operational norms of the DCI,” he stated.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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