As provided for in the Section 6(c) of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority Act, the Authority must keep track of and investigate police operations that affecting the general public.
IPOA conducts monitoring to ensure that police operations are conducted with professionalism and within the precincts of the law, as stipulated in the Sixth Schedule of the National Police Service Act.
This task is largely supported by IPOA’s Directorate of Inspections, Research and Monitoring (IRM).
Numbers
During the last General Elections, the Authority through the directorate, monitored police operations before, during and after the party nominations and the general elections.
IPOA also monitored the postponed elections held on August 29, 2022, for Governors, Members of the National Assembly, and Members of the County Assembly in selected areas.
In comparison to the 104 monitors deployed in 31 counties during the 2017 General Elections, The Authority deployed 250 monitors throughout 46 counties in the 2022 General Elections.
Eight incidents were reported during the 2022 general election, compared to 102 incidents which included 27 deaths and 75 injuries, recorded in the 2017 general election.
Investigations into the eight occurrences were started by the Authority, and all have since been completed.
The Authority further instituted partnership with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) to monitor the conduct of members of the National Police Service is Taita Taveta County and established that the police officers conducted their operations professionally.
Recommendations
As a result of the monitoring exercises, a number of recommendations were made to address issues of concern and guide police actions in forthcoming elections.
Among them is that the National Police Service mandates that all deployed officers display name tags and service numbers clearly throughout their operations.
IPOA also recommended that the IEBC looks into the welfare of police officers, by making transport arrangements, increasing their numbers and paying their allowances in good time.
Additionally, The Authority recommended that officers sourced from other units like the KWS, KFS, Prisons and NYS receive election preparedness training alongside police officers in order to improve collaboration and promote effective service delivery.
