Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki on Friday, April 28, announced a massive reshuffle of police bosses in Kilifi County.
The CS stated that the changes would enable the government to conduct thorough investigations into the mass graves at Shakahola Forest in the county.
Kindiki underlined that the government would take administrative action against government officials who failed to take action over the matter.
“The government has decided that effective today, we will transfer all station, division, sub-county, county heads and commanders of all agencies within Kilifi County effective today.
“We will replace them with their colleagues from elsewhere so that we can show the public that what we are doing is for the good of the country and for the good of justice,” Kindiki announced.
The CS maintained that the transfer was not meant to implicate anyone with the crimes but an initiative to ensure the operation was successful.
“We are not implicating anybody but we are saying that if you were the OCS or if you are the commander or a person who ought to have either received a report or you may have received a report and then you failed to act, then you cannot be part of the team that is conducting the investigations,” Kindiki insisted.
On the other hand, he intimated that the police had postponed the exhumation of bodies at the 800-acre forest owing to the heavy rains experienced in the area.
He explained that the decision was informed by experts who advised that the rains would interfere with potential evidence.
“To support the search and rescue at Shakahola Forest and Chakama Ranch, the government has upscaled the operation with more personnel.
“In addition to Land search, we will introduce air search to coordinate the team in the air and on land to save everyone,” the CS indicated.
Further, Kindiki cautioned religious leaders who were ridiculing the government for its operation in the forest as he declared that the crackdown on suspicious religious activity would continue.
Source: Kenyans.co.ke