Kenya: Government commitment necessary for police reforms

The United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Professor Philip Alston, presented his . In an extraordinary week of political manoeuvering, reinforcing the internal tension that plagues Kenya’s Grand Coalition Government, the Kenyan delegation responded with an oral statement to the council that contradicted their earlier written response. Having initially denied Professor Alston’s accusations of the widespread and systematic use of extrajudicial killings by the Kenya Police Force, the delegation conceded that there is a problem, but stopped short of acknowledging government complicity.

The proceedings and outcomes at the 11th Session have received much local and international press. Now, two weeks later, the focus must shift to action taken by the Kenyan government to address the issues raised by Professor Alston and the fall out from the publication of his report, which included the killing of two human rights defenders that had previously cooperated with his mandate. Despite the eventually positive response from the Kenyan delegation in Geneva, early signs of action are not necessarily promising.

Professor Alston’s report articulated what concerned local and international organisations have been saying about the Kenya Police Force for many years – and which the Government failed to acknowledge until their oral statement to the Council – that extrajudicial killings are part of the policing landscape in Kenya. The oral statement also contained a public acknowledgement of Kenya’s weak police oversight mechanisms, the need to establish a local independent police commission and assurances that no human rights defenders would be intimidated or harassed as a result of their cooperation with the UN special procedures mandate-holders.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether the promising outcomes in Geneva will translate into credible action in Nairobi. Successive promises of reform articulated in a number of strategies and processes over the past 10 years have not been completed or sustained by the Kenya government. Kenyans continue to be policed by an organisation that lacks sufficient accountability structures, fails to protect or uphold basic human rights and is continually subject to illegitimate political interference. Millions of dollars have been invested in the development and publication of commission reports, task force findings and reform strategies without any genuine steps by the government to implement systemic reform.

The concerning state of policing in Kenya has received significant national and international attention over the past 18 months. The police response to the 2007 post-election violence brought the issue of political partisanship, impunity and brutality to the fore. The Waki Commission report [PDF 3.1MB] into the violence strongly recommended comprehensive reform of the Kenya Police Force and Administration Police and Professor Alston’s report reinforced the brutal and corrupt practices that have been permitted to flourish by the unreformed, colonial policing model.

Police reform is a daunting and long-term process. It requires substantial law reform, a radical shift in policing culture from one of impunity to accountability and the restoration of trust between police and the community. None of these urgent reforms will happen in Kenya without the political and financial commitment of the government to undertake reforms of this scope. The recent establishment by the president of a special Police Reform Task Force represents a positive step towards delivering credible advances. However, the government must translate the task force’s recommendations into actual reform that goes beyond improving operational capacity to address governance, accountability and legal structures. Otherwise the task force, for all its good intention, will become another failed reform vehicle.

Drawing on the previous recommendations and those foreshadowed to appear in the current task force findings, the government should implement the following minimum reforms:

- Constitutional and legislative amendments that clearly separate the operational control of the police from the direct control from the political executive and provide for transparency in monitoring police performance and conduct
- Strengthening internal and external oversight mechanisms, including the enactment of legislation and budgetary allocation to give full effect to the police oversight board, plus the establishment of an independent complaints mechanisms
- Establish a clear demarcation between the role of the Kenya Police Force and the Administration Police
- Improve police human rights training and resourcing to strengthen human rights compliance and operational effectiveness in the prevention, detection and investigation of crime, and
- Establish clear legislative guidelines on the use of force, torture and adherence to basic due process that accord with Kenya’s existing obligations under international law.

If the government is serious about reforming the police, a commitment to implementing past and current recommendations is not enough. It must also take immediate steps that both demonstrate its firm commitment to reform and restore public confidence in the reform process. A positive first action should be the investigation, prosecution and punishment of those police officers who commit or acquiesce to illegal acts including, but not limited to, those responsible for the 2007 post-election violence and the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings.

Other immediate steps must include measures to implement the government’s guarantee of protection to individuals who have been intimidated or subject to retribution for their cooperation with the UN special procedures mandate-holders. Human rights defenders, including members of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights have been subject to threats and some have been forced to flee Kenya. The high profile execution of two prominent human rights defenders, who cooperated with Professor Alston, and the failure by the police and government to identify those responsible, highlights the inadequacy of protection and security for human rights defenders. While Kenya has a witness protection programme, reform is urgently required to ensure the integrity of its internal processes (including accountability, executive control and information storage and sharing) before those who are most in need of protection will have confidence in the systems that are designed to deliver it.

The 2007 post-election violence, followed by the findings in Professor Alston’s report, and the tragic consequences for human rights defenders who cooperated with his mandate, have kept the problems with Kenyan policing firmly in the international spotlight. Whether the political will to commit to genuine reform is present in the Grand Coalition Government remains to be seen, but what is clear to the international community is that the need for police reform is more crucial than ever.

* Louise Edwards is the Access to Justice (East Africa) programme officer for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative in New Delhi.
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