“Could Kimaiyo be Kenya’s Kivuitu of 2013?”
. . . .
. . . [H]e is in a new position set down on top of an old and dysfunctional organisation that he has inherited and that he does not have time to change before the election.
The news already reports a rift over appointment authority between Kimaiyo and the chair of the new National Police Service Commission—the kind of kinks in a new system that should be expected and that inevitably take time.
Ultimately, Kimaiyo even on paper, is only one member of the National Security Council. Even though he has some additional theoretical authority, he is to implement rather than set the government’s security policy.
Like Samuel Kivuitu in the weeks before the election in 2007, he has respect and credibility from his past, but he is one man only, one vote on security policy, and not fully in control of what will happen even within the police service at this point. This should be a sobering thought in light of what we all saw play out in the last election.
Follow the link to read the whole piece from the Star.
FYI, this was submitted for publication before the back and forth in the campaigns about alleged involvement of civil servants in politics.
Please also read this from Pheroze Nowrojee in the Star, “Of Civil Servants and our Politics”:
The Inspector-General of Police, David Kimaiyo issued a public statement that politicians should not discuss land ownership in their campaigns. He did not suggest that there was any breach of the law by any politician. Yet he called for a gag. He was stepping into the political arena. He was abridging the Bill of Rights. Kimaiyo too was way out of line.
Related articles
- Kivuitu had hoped to be a poll observer (nation.co.ke)
- Kibaki appoints Kimaiyo’s deputies (nation.co.ke)
- Kenya Police Chief Says Slow Reforms Hinder End to Tana Massacre – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
- Tana clashes politically instigated – Kimaiyo (capitalfm.co.ke)
The message from the US Embassy at today’s Emergency Town Hall was that we should “Shelter In Place” and that the US Government supports free, fair and peaceful elections because we have a long and important relationship with Kenya. The US Embassy staff really have no idea about the failure to constitute a National Police Service and Amb. Godec hopes that the election is held without significant violence. The USG apparently thinks that a runoff is likely but it is the GOK that must provide security; there ate only eight Marines so…? In space no one can hear you scream? There is no real idea about what actually happened after the 2007 elections and these Middle American Federal Employees are obviously completely clueless. Obama’s YouTube Message and Carson’s clarification ate nothing more than the empty and worthless platitudes of an impotent White House without any notion of what to do before the crisis arrives! I have absolutely nothing in common with my government’s representatives in Kenya! Let us all -12000 plus Americans- hope that the elections are peaceful because that is what the Obama administration strategy is all about: hope and a belief in the Kenyan people. All of the US Embassy officials who addressed some 600 Americans emphasized that there were no specific threats against US Citizens which fails to account for the sort of social disorder that targets anyone with more things than 35 million Kenyans! “The ambassador and his crew are from the government and they are here to help us?” Not once since 11March 1981 …!