Former IG Japhet Koome found criminally responsible for police brutality
High Court finds Former IG Japhet Koome criminally responsible over police brutality on doctors
High Court finds Former IG Japhet Koome criminally responsible over police brutality on doctors.
The High Court has dealt a blow to former Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome after it ruled that he should be held personally responsible for certain orders that he issued while serving as Kenya’s police boss.
Justice Ngaah Jairus of Nairobi Court ruled that Koome errored in his directives to police on how to deal with protestors during his reign and that he should be held responsible.
”As to whether the respondent can be held criminally responsible for the acts of officers under his command in violently disrupting KMPDU (Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union) members’ peaceful assembly, demonstration or picketing or other forms of expression consistent with the exercise of their rights under articles 36, 37 and 41 of the Constitution as result of which Dr. Devji Atelu was injured, the answer is in the affirmative,” Justice Ngaah ruled.
”The respondent could, and can properly be subjected to a criminal trial for the acts or omissions of the officers under his command if those acts or omissions fit the description of offences as defined in law,”
This is after human rights groups moved to court to file a petition to subject Koome over unlawful conduct where he ordered police officers in April last year to deal with striking doctors ‘firmly and decisively.’
Upon the issuance of the order, KMPDU Secretary General Davji Atelah was seriously injured while leading industrial protests by the doctors at that time.
Human rights groups then immediately piled pressure on the then IG to come clean on the intention of his orders, as to whether they were intended to harm the SG or not.
In his ruling, Justice Ngaah emphasised that the Constitution unequivocally vests all command and responsibility powers in the Inspector General (IG) as an individual, making them directly accountable for any orders they issue.
Katiba Insititute, Kenya Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya), Transparency International Kenya (TI), The Institute For Social Accountability (TISA), and Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) were among some of the lobby groups that presented the matter to court.
”The High Court has allowed our Judicial Review application to hold Japhet Koome Nchebere personally responsible for his statement on 14 April 2024 directing the police to deal with striking and picketing doctors firmly and decisively,” Katiba Institute shared after the ruling.
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The High Court ruling implies that, unless challenged, any individual will now have the right to sue the Inspector General of Police for any form of brutality resulting from orders issued to junior officers by the IG.
”A win for accountability against the police. In my opinion, there’s one more hierarchical step up the ladder of accountability when it comes to command responsibility, especially within the police forces. The law may grind slowly but surely,” a legal practitioner shared after the ruling.
The ruling also comes at a time when the current IG Douglas Kanja is having court cases against his office on abductions, a case where he is likely to be charged with contempt of court and similar charges that his predecessor is facing.
”If Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja misses the next hearing, I will have no choice but to charge him with contempt of court and sentence him on the spot,” Justice Mwamuye has warned after Kanja missed a court session.
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