Chief Justice Martha Koome has urged the National Police Service to come up with a policy framework which will ensure arrests are done humanely and the lives of arrested persons are preserved.
Speaking on Thursday, July 25, 2024, after swearing in the two deputy inspector generals of police, Koome underscored the need to outline the procedure of arrest and the requirement to inform the arrested persons of their offence.
“If we must arrest, we must have a reason why we are arresting somebody. In the same way, the ODPP established a policy on the decision to charge, it is perhaps time the national police service established a policy on the decision to charge. It is not whimsical,” Koome observed.
The remarks came in the wake of sustained pressure on the Judiciary to pronounce itself on the issue of abductions during the recent spate of protests that saw at least 60 people killed by police according to human rights bodies.
Koome noted that it was important for the arresting authorities to preserve life during and after effecting the arrest, saying all lives matter before the law.
“It is that there is a cognisant offence that has been committed and that is why we are arresting. And as we are arresting, we must preserve that life because every life matters and it must be brought through due process,” she added.
Koome responds
Responding to the calls for action, Koome stated that the Judiciary could not participate in the protests over abductions but could state the law.
“Many a time I have been called upon Chief Justice where are you, people are dying, people are being abducted, kidnapped,” Koome said, “In the judiciary, we sit and wait, we don’t descend into the arena of the dispute. We can’t go to the streets where others can go but we can state the law and say what the constitution and the national police act says about arrests.”
The wave of protests that rocked the country for the past six weeks left several protesters injured, maimed and several others dead.
In the wake of the calls for reforms in the police service, former Inspector General Japhet Koome was forced to resign.
The Azimio la Umoja- One Kenya coalition leaders have also increased pressure on President William Ruto to fire Nairobi-Area police boss Adamson Bungei, whom they have accused of being complicit in the police excesses witnessed in the protests.
