Draging police in partisan politics is a dangerous route we must avoid

Recent incidents involving Emurua Dikirr Member of Parliament Johannah Ng’eno and his Kapsaret counterpart Oscar Sudi might look normal to many Kenyans who are too used to political theartrics.

But the two have brought to the fore some dangerous trends that must be addressed before they get out of hand.

It has become normal that whenever political leaders fall in trouble with the law, they mobilise youthful “supporters” to protect them from arrest. When this happens, the youth end up sustaining injuries, sometimes fatal ones, and when the drama is over, the politicians move on like nothing happened.

We have seen this so many times in the past and we are likely to see more in the future especially now that political temperatures are boiling as we move closer to a possible referendum and an election in about two years.

Last weekend, locals blocked roads in Kapseret following plans by police to arrest Mr Sudi. Mr Sudi was being sought over remarks he made earlier in the week.

On Friday night, there were credible reports that the MP mobilised youths to guard his home after police were seen in the vicinity in two vehicles, a day after he dared them to arrest him.

Elected leaders

Transport was paralysed on the Kapsabet-Eldoret road. Youths used logs and stones to block the road. It was not hard to tell if they were  paid for the work.

This is not meant to justify the not-so-civil conduct of the police in carrying out the arrests, neither is it a defence for the decision to apprehend the said politicians.

But there is something absolutely wrong with putting the lives of innocent youth you vowed to protect, in the line of danger in the name of politics.

It is not lost on anyone that half of the time our police officers waste no chance of using the lethal weapons they carry during these raids and having a young man or two literally bite the bullet for their target is no big deal for them.

Our youth need to be educated and possibly empowered so that they do not put their lives in danger for causes they hardly understand and for people who do not care whether they live or die. But our leaders must not engage the youth on obviously dangerous missions.

But there is something more grave that emerged during Mr Sudi’s search and eventual arrest that needs to be nipped in the bud. There are reports that members of an elite police squad were used to “sneak” the Kapsaret MP from his home to a hideout to save him from the arrest. 

A chief inspector of police is suspected to have fled the compound alongside the MP. They had come in the compound with a motor vehicle where another firearm with a magazine of 30 rounds of ammunition was recovered.

Escape arrest

A chief inspector is a senior officer in the Kenyan National Police Service and the mere thought that he was leading the efforts to help a suspect escape arrest ordered by a service he serves is cause for worry. That he was carrying arms ready to fight is even more worrying!

Though it might sound ingenious by the Sudi team, it portends a very dangerous trend not only to the officers involved but also a serious threat to national security. A threat to national security is a threat to all of us.

If allowed to continue, especially during these politically charged times, the country will find itself in a dicey situation.  Political, ethnic and financial allegiance of members of the disciplined forces should not override their call of duty to serve the nation.

We don’t want to imagine the consequences of a division in our armed forces and police. This is why we must put aside our petty politics and  ethnicism to protect the integrity of our law enforcement and security agencies. We will soon regret the day we allowed officers to serve sectarian interests.

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