The politics of ‘bodyguards’

The scaling down of security personnel attached to retired President Uhuru Kenyatta and powerful individuals who served under his regime has elicited acrimonious political debate with some claiming the move to be politically motivated.

Uhuru’s security was scaled down yesterday including that of his immediate family members in a drastic measure by the Interior ministry.

According to sources, a senior police officer who was leading the security team has been recalled and replaced with one of a lower rank.

It is not yet clear how many security personnel the former President has been allocated.

The ‘rationalisation’ also affected former Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and former Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho months after exiting office.

While addressing the media today at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa, Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome confirmed the scaling of security detail of the former Head of State but hesitated on mentioning how many were left citing security reasons.

He dismissed claims that alleged that the State had withdrawn Uhuru’s security and instead clarified that his security team is now headed by a superintendent in accordance with the law.

He explained that the presidential escort unit of a sitting president falls under the command of an Assistant IG but upon retirement, the unit’s leadership is transferred to a superintendent who reports directly to a deputy IG.

“An officer who was of the rank of an assistant Inspector General was with the retired president. So how do you expect an assistant Inspector General to report to another assistant Inspector General,”Koome said.

He also confirmed the scaling down of the security detail of the former First Lady Margaret Kenyatta and retired Cabinet Secretaries since they are no longer on active duty.

“We do secure their premises and provide security to them but you can’t give the same security detail to retired government officials as those who are on active duty,” he said.

According to the Presidential Retirement Benefits Act of 2003, a retired president is entitled to an elaborate state-funded office with a household of staff including guards.

The Act had initially capped the number of guards at a maximum of six each for personal and escort unit use as well as for deployment at the retired president’ urban and rural residences placing the total number of guards at 12.

But the law also outlined that such number of guards for personal and escort unit use as may from time to time be certified by the Minister responsible for national security in consultation with the retired President.

The Act was however amended in 2013 limiting the number of guards to six.

In 2021, a public uproar and complaints by the office of the DP had elicited after the government at the time had downgraded the security of the then-Deputy President William Ruto.

The then Interior minister Fred Matiang’i while facing the National Assembly over changes in Ruto’s security detail, told the National Security and Administration Committee that at the time Ruto had the biggest security detail dedicated to him at 257 officers.

“DP Ruto’s house is not a state lodge or a State House, the law is very clear it is his residence….We in the security sector work to be right in terms of making decisions,” he had said.

Matiang’i had then reiterated that it was not a withdrawal, but a rearrangement of the security adding that Ruto was the most guarded holder of the office since independence.