US asked Kibaki to sack police chief Ali
US government officials asked President Kibaki to sack former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali over his alleged role in extra- judicial killings.
According to cables extracted from the US embassy, assistant secretary of State Johnnie Carson demanded that President Kibaki sacks Maj-Gen Ali because accusing him of incompetence or failing to do his job.
At a meeting between President Kibaki and Mr Carson and the senior director in charge of Africa at the US National Security Council, Ms Michelle Gavin, on May 12, 2009, the two said the government’s failure to sack incompetent officials had created a perception that no progress was being made on reforms.
Human rights activists
According to the two diplomats, the “assassination” of two human rights activists and the subsequent inaction by the government to track down the killers had “shaken” Washington and cast a shadow over the Kenyan police and the judicial system.
“He (Carson) added that President Kibaki had the power to act to improve this perception,” the cables state in a barely disguised plea for Mr Kibaki to remove Police Commissioner Hussein Ali.
The revelations are likely to add pressure on the retired major-general coming just a day after he was ordered to appear before the International Criminal Court on April 7 over the post-election violence.
