Press Statement

Do Not Militarize Public Security in Kenya

Nairobi, July 14, 2014/..The Statute Law Miscellaneous (Amendment) Bill 2014 seeking to
amend and/or alter various Acts of Parliament of Kenya is a very dangerous method of
legislating crucial laws that affect fundamental human rights and freedoms of Kenyans.
The proposed amendments in the omnibus Bill seeking to amend some sections of the
functions and jurisdiction process of the Defence forces in the Kenya Defence Forces Act to
give the President and the Cabinet Secretary for Defence power to unilaterally order military
interventions inside the country without parliamentary authorization will have severe
consequences to building constitutional democracy.
The surest way of enhancing security and beating organized crime such as terrorism lies in
good local policing and determined police work. It is the polices work on the ground that
gets results. The Constitution introduced new approaches of policing that involves a shift of
power from office of the President to local communities.
The National Police Service (NPS) was constitutionally given independence and legal tools
with far greater freedom to do their jobs. The public was given more power to hold the
National Police Service to account. Thus, the Jubilee government must invest heavily in
creating modern sophisticated policing and law enforcement systems by strengthening
capacity and competence of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations of the National Police
Service.
The Jubilee administration has touted the formation of the Nairobi Metropolitan Military
Command as part of the solution to Kenyas security problems. This poses serious dangers
of militarization of public security and the potential for widespread human rights violations
against the population. Militarization of public security is a backward step for a country still
navigating its transition towards a full democracy and with a strong past legacy of
dictatorship. A legal decision to allow Presidential decree in deployment of military to
perform internal security function without full approval of the National Parliament is a
significant affront on the Constitution. It opens up a dangerous new terrain to the military
and the police, which could plague the country with rampant violation of human rights.

The deployment of the countrys armed forces to combat organized crime such as terrorism,
drug trafficking, and the increasing militarization of police units endanger the already weak
civilian institutions available. The situation is made worse by the high level of political
polarization, mistrust and divisions. Without proper definition of what constitutes a
national security threat the President can use the military against anything he considers a
national threat. Even worse, with an absolute majority in Parliament, there is no way to
stop what could potentially happen in the future.

The amended Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) law could clearly be abused, especially
considering the grave accountability track record of Kenya, a country where the overlap
between national interest and political/personal interests is often blurred. It is necessary to
recognize that escalating security problems arising in part because of institutions that are
not working for the people.

The attempts at using members of the military in public security tasks by Jubilee
government will consolidate the Kenyan militarys role in public security and erase any
illusion that this role is indeed temporary. A reliance on militarized bodies, even under
civilian leadership, is at the expense of increased efforts to strengthen the civilian National
Police Service.

The Constitution of Kenya 2010 strongly restricts the Kenyan military from carrying out law
enforcement roles in the country, and for good reasonsthe police and the military are not
interchangeable bodies. Military forces are trained for combat situations in which force is
used to overwhelm an armed enemy.

Police on the other hand are civilian corps trained to address the threats to public security
while using the least amount of force possible and to address crime with the cooperation of
the people. There are inherent risks in having military-trained forces in close contact with
the civilian population.


Signed
Ndung'u Wainaina
Executive Director