Interior CS Murkomen distances himself from Kenyan abductions

The Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has distanced himself from abductions and murders of anti-government activists witnessed in the country for the last couple of months.

Murkomen who took over the Ministry on December 19, 2024, says he does not know anything about the abductions and has not developed any policy in use adding that even his predecessors were also not involved in the abductions.

Murkomen instead said the constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property lies with the IG.

"We have laid it bare that the mandate of protection of security of property and lives lies with the IG of Police. Him (Murkomen) is on policy but as a citizen of this country and as a CS in charge of Interior security is concerned about the abductions and that is why he is condemning them," stated Murkomen's lead lawyer Danstan Omari.

Omari says the CS can only provide policy as a written directive to the Inspector General of Police and "policy does not involve command structure which is a preserve of the inspector general of police".

Murkomen says matters of national security are in the domain of the National Security Council which is chaired by the President, not the Interior Cabinet Secretary. He only sits in the council to bring matters of the National Police Service.

Expunged

Murkomen says he will be seeking to be expunged from the list of respondents in a suit where the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah are seeking answers over the abductions.

"He (Murkomen) condemns, very seriously, any form of extra-judicial actions taken either by the government agencies or by any other criminals involved in the abductions that have hit the country in the last two, three months," stated Omari.

"Those who have abducted the young Kenyans whether they are police officers, citizens, or foreigners will face the full force of the Kenyan law and the CS is determined that whoever has committed an offence shall be held liable. Nobody is above the law according to the CS for Interior."

Through his lawyers, Murkomen says he has not developed any policy and he shall be developing one soon.

Murkomen says he is in the process of convening a meeting with all criminal justice actors –these being the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Inspector General of Police, so that they discuss the question of abductions.

"The CS has told us to tell the country to take notice that the DPP gave instructions pursuant to Article 157 of the constitution to the Inspector General of police and the DCI to conclude investigations of all abductions and files to be forwarded to the (ODPP) by close of business January 15, 2025," said Omari.

"So let us not jump the gun, let us not interfere with the ODPP directives; it is an independent constitutional office; the IG is an independent constitutional office that only takes directions from the on matters investigations from ODPP. It does not take instructions from the office of CS Interior."

Murkomen has instructed the lawyers to urge the high court to have him removed from the two petitions – one filed by the LSK and Senator Omtatah who have enjoined him among the respondents in the petitions.

LSK and Omtatah have sued the CS, IG, DCI, and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to explain the abductions.

The National Police Service (NPS) through its spokesman Dr. Resila Onyango has denied involvement in the abductions, indicating the NPS is conducting investigations into the matter.