The Kenya police has been accused of gross human rights violations. [Photo/the-star.co.ke]
The endeavors started during the Kibaki administration aimed at reforming the police had the very noble goal of fashioning a service that would be guided by values.
Those noble efforts appear to have stalled given the staggering array of accusations leveled at the police by various human rights organisations.
The protracted election period brought to the fore the depths of brutality that the police had sunk into.
In the build-up to the October 26 rerun, Amnesty International released a report that chronicled the sometimes fatal violence that was met out to civilians in slum areas.
A few days the collective conscience of Kenyans was shocked by reports that a seven-year-old kid, Geoffery Mutinda, had been shot dead allegedly by the police.
That same bullet that took his life exited at the back of his head and hit his pregnant relative.
His death enters the tally of people who have met their deaths in unclear circumstances with the police being accused of involvement.
In Mathare an eight-year-old Stephanie Moraa was hit by a bullet.
In Kisumu, a baby called Pendo was clobbered by police officers leading to her deeply sad death.
All these stories of death have fueled public perception that the police are animals and not human beings as human beings are capable of empathy.
The opposition Raila Odinga leader has in the past accused the Jubilee government of turning Kenya into a police state.
The question is, is Kenya a police state?
That may be subject to debate but the truth is the police have been involved in acts that undermine the public's faith in them.