Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja has ordered the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to probe the armed, hooded, and plain-clothed officers recorded traversing Ol Kalou on Thursday afternoon, disrupting a peaceful election process.
According to Central Region Police Commander Geoffrey Mayek, the IG acknowledges and has been made aware of the individuals who “were seen traversing Ol Kalou in unclear circumstances”.
“He has directed a full investigation by the DCI to establish who the individuals were and what their motive was, with a view to taking appropriate action,” the regional Commander said in a statement issued on Friday evening.
The officers stormed the polling station in the afternoon in Land Cruisers and Toyota Prados after a morning of peaceful voting. They disrupted the voters who were yet to cast their ballots by shooting in the air, causing chaos and forcing people to scamper for safety.
The regional commander, at the same time, dismissed claims made on social media and by DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua that incidents of rape took place during the by-election.
“As to allegations circulating in the social media spaces about incidents of rape and deaths, the true position is that no rape incidents were reported in Ol Kalou before, during and after the voting process. Such reports have the potential of causing unnecessary panic while also breeding mistrust between the public and the NPS, whose clear mandate is to protect life and property, provide security, enforce our laws and be of help to the public,” he said.
He urged that each statement made to the public meet a high threshold of truth, reliability, and trust.
“The NPS encourages anyone to come out and lodge a complaint on any criminal incident at any time, whenever it occurs, for appropriate and lawful action,” urged the Commander.
He added that the National Police Service is committed to upholding the rule of law while remaining steadfast in the provision of safety and security to all.
Generally, the officer termed the exercise as successful and thanked the deployed officers for carrying out their mandate professionally.
“NPS wishes to comment on the just successfully concluded by-election of Ol Kalou Constituency. First, we thank the people of Ol Kalou for exercising their democratic rights in a free and fair environment. They conducted themselves maturely and responsibly. Secondly, to all our officers who were deployed to cover the exercise, we thank you wholeheartedly for carrying out your mandate in a steadfast, dignified, and professional manner,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gachagua has linked the hooded and armed officers who terrorised Ol Kalou voters to a squad that he claimed was under the command of some politicians.
“Yesterday, this squad, together with some plainclothes police officers, stormed polling stations in a coordinated attempt to disrupt the counting. Amid the chaos of teargas and gunfire, they intended to overturn the will of the people,” he claimed in a press briefing on Friday.
The same squad has been linked to the attack on journalists covering the by-election in the constituency.
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