Devolution Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri (left) and Frontier Alliance Party leader Ukur Yattani arrive at Moi Girls High School grounds during the launch of the party on April 29, 2017. HRW warns that state agencies involved in active politics risk eroding public confidence in them. [Photo: nation.co.ke]
US-based organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that state agencies violate national laws and erode public confidence in the institutions by engaging in active politics.
Otsieno Namwaya, HRW lead researcher for Africa, said on Sunday that one of the factors mentioned by the Waki Commission as a cause of the 2007/2008 post-election violence was the public’s lack of confidence in State institutions such as the Judiciary and the police.
“Even though some of these institutions were reformed, they are today engaged in acts that are eroding confidence in the eyes of the public. Our worry is that, by this behaviour, the August 8 elections may not be free and fair," said Namwaya.
HRW has also put in the spotlight those heading such agencies or in positions of authority who actively engage in politics, in breach of the Public Service Code of Conduct and Regulations.
The organisation says despite many laws barring public servants from political party campaigns, a number of them have defied them and are part of the Jubilee campaign machinery.
Among the institutions HRW has put in the spotlight are the NGOs Coordination Board and its chief executive Yusuf Fazul Mohammed, Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and its Commissioner-General John Njiraini and the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
Others are the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and its chairman Francis ole Kaparo, as well as the IEBC and its chairman Wafula Chebukati.