Senior police and national administration officials were held in security meeting for a second day in a row today in a bid to strategise on how to counter anti-government protests planned from tomorrow to Friday.
Interior and National Administration Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo chaired a meeting attended by national administration officials while Deputy Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja hosted eight regional police commanders.
A statement from the meeting indicated that the PS instructed regional and county commissioners to ensure lives and property are protected.
“What we have seen is looting, loss of lives and destruction of property. From today, if anything goes wrong, we are not going to blame anyone; it is us. And as the chairs of the Security and Intelligence committees, you must put adequate measures in place in every county and region to deal with this issue.” Omollo told the security officials.
Meanwhile, there are concerns within police circles that the officers are not well equipped to counter the protestors tomorrow with reports indicating that they have run short of anti-riot gear including tear gas canisters.
Furthermore, some officers are also said to be complaining that the government has allegedly not paid them extraneous allowances.
On that note, it’s now clear that the operations set for the aforementioned three straight days of nonstop demonstrations might be badly affected by the shortage of the teargas canisters.
However, another government insider who sought anonymity claimed the Ruto’s administration is now seeking to import an emergency shipment from Brazil to help the anti-riot police officers during the actual demos.
Speaking in Tharaka Nithi over weekend, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki reiterated the fact that the government has not banned public rallies and warned that anybody planning to cause chaos will be dealt with in accordance with the law.
“Anyone planning to paralyze the economy, injure innocent citizens, loot private property and vandalize public property on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or any other day not just in Nairob,i but across the 47 counties in the country, will be dealt with accordingly.” Kindiki said.