MP wants Nyanza police boss, regional commissioner sacked

Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi at a past press conference. He wants Nyanza police boss and regional commissioner to resign over police brutality. PHOTO | TOM OTIENO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi said if they do not resign, then they should be transferred.
  • He named the latest casualty as the 18-year-old student.

An Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MP and civil society groups in Kisumu have called for resignation of Nyanza police boss and regional commissioner following brutality and deaths witnessed during recent protests.

The party’s Secretary for political affairs Opiyo Wandayi and the lobby groups demanded for resignation of Nyanza Regional Coordinator Wilson Njega, Nyanza police boss Leonard Katana and four county commissioners for failing to address police brutality meted on innocent protestors.

RESIGN

Mr Wandayi, who is Ugunja MP said if they do not resign, then they should be transferred.

In a statement sent to newsrooms, Mr Wandayi said the region continues to lose innocent lives while multitudes get maimed in the hands of trigger-happy police in anti-IEBC demonstrations.

He named the latest casualty as the 18-year-old student, who was allegedly shot dead by police in Kisumu on Monday.

He accused the entire security in the region of failing and neglecting to protect the lives and property of the people under their watch as required by law.

"The relationship between these officers and the people have degenerated beyond repair. We demand the immediate resignation of the officers for the sake of harmony and peace in the region," said Mr Wandayi.

KILLINGS

The MP raised concern over the killings in Nyanza saying it bordered on “ethnic cleansing.”

Lobby groups called for investigations into specific incidents of criminal acts of killings by the law enforcers.

Mr Chris Owalla, director of Community Initiative Action Group Kenya asked President Uhuru Kenyatta to protect the lives of all Kenyans in equal measure before the issue worsens.

“Mr Kenyatta should act and not allow the issue at hand to degenerate into ethnic cleansing. The people of Nyanza feel they are being pushed into self-determination,” said Mr Owalla.

The lobby termed the recent events in Kisumu as significantly derailing the little progress made towards realisation of police reforms.