Amos Khaemba, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over four years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

-Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa has accused the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) of unfairly targeting the police in the blogger Albert Omondi Ojwang's murder case.

Addressing the press on Wednesday, June 18, Barasa strongly defended the National Police Service (NPS) officers.

Barasa claimed IPOA was demonising police officers, particularly in situations involving crowd control and public unrest.

While referring to Ojwang's murder case, the Kimilili lawmaker said mistakes in professional bodies are common, yet only police officers face public humiliation and legal consequences when they err in the line of duty.

“When judges and magistrates make mistakes, we say the learned bench has erred. But when a police officer errs, they are immediately arrested and prosecuted. I have decided to stand up for our uniformed officers who play a critical role in maintaining law and order. IPOA is overstepping its mandate," Barasa said.

He argued that if IPOA is allowed to continue targeting officers who make mistakes, other cops might lose morale and interest in combating crime

“We are witnessing a scenario where everyone has suddenly become a security expert. People want to dictate who should be arrested and how. If we continue with this trend, our police officers will begin to fear executing their duties, which will inevitably lead to a rise in insecurity,” he added.

To address the situation, the UDA lawmaker threatened to sponsor amendments to disband IPOA, as it is making the work of the police officers more difficult.

“I have set up a team in my office to review these proposals. The amendments will be out soon. I will propose to either disband IPOA or restructure it to operate similarly to how National Assembly parliamentary committees handle petitions," he disclosed.

The outspoken lawmaker further slammed Kenyans calling for the resignation of Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat, whom he described as an 'excellent officer.'

IPOA's mistakes in Albert Ojwang's murder case

In other news, Rarieda Member of Parliament Otiende Amollo highlighted IPOA's shortcomings in their probe into Ojwang's murder.

While speaking at the National Assembly on Wednesday 18, Amollo wondered why IPOA was heavily relying on information from the police to get to the bottom of the blogger's case.

The ODM lawmaker suggested that no better results would be found because the National Police Service was the one that issued a false statement stating that Ojwang' succumbed to self-inflicted injuries.

Source: TUKO.co.ke