Kenya’s President William Ruto has ordered the disbandment of the Special Service Unit (SSU),
following an investigation report on the disappearance of two Indian nationals and their local taxi driver.
The new Director of Criminal Investigations, Amin Mohamed, presented the report to President William Ruto, at State House, on Thursday morning.
President Ruto said the changes were necessary in order to overhaul security management in the East African nation.
The report recommended that the unit be disbanded to pave way for the conclusion of investigations before the file is forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
“I am the one who ordered that the Special Service Unit, which was conducting extrajudicial killings, be disbanded. We have a plan on how to secure this country so that we avoid the shame of Kenyans killed [by the police and their bodies dumped] in Yala River and others. We are going to change this country for the better,” President Ruto said while addressing a thanksgiving service in Kericho.
Yala River has been in the news in the past year because of the dozens of bodies that have been recovered there.
Suspicions are rife over possible police complicity in the deaths and human rights activists have demanded an investigation.
The two Indians, Mohamed Zaid Kidwai and Zulfiqar Ahmen Khan are reported to have arrived in the country in April this year to join President Ruto’s ICT campaign team but went missing on July 25 after they were abducted outside Ole Sereni Hotel together with their taxi driver, Nicodemus Mwania.
Their families linked their disappearance to state agents as CCTV footage showed their car being blocked and the three being taken away by armed men, leaving the taxi at the scene.
Through lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi, the families obtained orders to compel security agencies to produce them in court, but this did not happen on August 5, when the case came up for mention.
On September 15, Acting Inspector-General of Police Noor Gabow directed the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) to take over the investigation and submit a report within 21 days.
The unit arrested several detectives and intelligence officers, interrogated them, and released them last week before Mr Amin was asked to present the findings to the President.
On Saturday night, it was announced that Amin had directed disbanding of the unit and reassigning of its members.
“The DCI Special Service Unit (SSU) has been disbanded with immediate effect. This follows a directive from the AG Inspector General, Mr Noor Gabow. All officers serving in the disbanded unit have been recalled to DCI headquarters for further instructions. This comes as the National Police Service prepares for reorganisation under the new administration,” the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) tweeted.
