IPOA responds on Azimio claim of a special police unit used during the protest
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IPOA (Independent Policing Oversight Authority) refutes claims of a special police unit deployed during Azimio protests
IPOA (Independent Policing Oversight Authority) refutes claims of a special police unit deployed during Azimio protests.
Speaking on NTV on Thursday, IPOA commissioner John Waiganjo said the unit that was in operation had since been disbanded.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority boss said the authority had also received similar complaints from the police during the previous demonstrations.
“In the last demonstrations we received complaints from the police themselves about some specialized forces coming to join certain jurisdictions within which certain commanders are in operation,” Waigaanjo said.
“I want to say that we do not have specialized forces because the last one was disbanded and it has not been brought to our attention that a new specialized unit has been formed to deal with demonstrators.”
The response by IPO comes after Azimio leaders raised an alarm over an alleged ‘killer squad’ named Operation Support Unit that is unleashed during their anti-government protests.
Speaking on Tuesday, Azimio co-principal Kalonzo Musyoka stated that the information they had led to a dreaded squad whose members were dressed in civilian clothing.
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He claimed that the OSU squad’s goal was to kill or severely hurt Kenyans and leaders of the Azimio during the protests.
Kalonzo claimed that the squad which travels in a group of five is allegedly from one ethnic community and is heavily armed with lethal weapons.
“They are better facilitated in terms of logistics and transportation, remunerations, communications, and weapons than the country’s official security agencies,” he said.
Waiganjo, however, claimed that the authority has not yet contacted the appropriate departments to find out whether the police department has such a formation.
“I will not sit here and say that they aren’t there because it is not the responsibility of IG to tell IPOA of the specialized forces that they may form. What we do is that we go in and we get to know what formations are within the NPS which we haven’t until now,” he said.
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