Poll chaos haunt officers at interviews for police job

By FELIX OLICK

The handling of post-election violence continued to haunt top cops who were in charge of hot spot areas during the mayhem as interviews for Inspector General of Police entered day two.

Mr Joseph Ashimala, who was at the time the Nyanza Deputy Police boss, was the first to take the hot seat with the question of police brutality witnessed in Kisumu being raised by the commissioners. The police was blamed for using excessive force to quell protesters particularly in Kisumu where many are believed to have been shot.

However, Ashimala maintained the violence in Kisumu, like other parts of the country was spontaneous. The former Deputy PPO who was later transferred to Nakuru at the height of the violence said that violence in the lakeside city erupted like a volcano, insisting that officers only reacted to restore normalcy. “As far as I am concerned the violence in Kisumu erupted like a volcano and we reacted to it. We covered Nyanza very well,” maintained the 50 year old officer.

The chairman of the Police Service Commission Johnston Kavulundi pressed the officer to explain what they did after intelligence reports indicated that violence could erupt. But Ashimala insisted he was not aware weather her boss Grace Kaindi had received such reports. Kaindi, who was also shortlisted for the top police job told the panel on Friday some of the killings were done by gangs that operated in Nyalenda and Obunga slums.

Ashimala declined to comment on whether the police force was adequately prepared to handle the 2007/2008 post-election skirmishes, arguing that it went beyond his jurisdiction.  Senior Deputy Commissioner of police David Kimaiyo said that without police intervention after the bungled presidential polls, the violence could have degenerated right up to the Kenya International Conference Centre (KICC) that was the tallying centre.

Mr Kimaiyo, who was at the time the Director of Police Service Operations, blamed the violence partly on what he termed as a “careless statement” by Chairman of the defunct ECK Samuel Kivuitu.