Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

Was it a coincident that on a day that journalists took to the streets protesting against police brutality, abductions and extrajudicial killings, President William Ruto was telling members of the service to use their positions responsibly and professionally?

The President told the National Police Service to use its mandate responsibly, “professionally, effectively and in full compliance with the Constitution with a view to promoting the national objectives of Articles 238,239 and 244”.

Despite ascending to power on the promise of reforming the police service, and particularly ending corruption, arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings and abductions, the President seems to have turned a blind eye to officers turning rogue.

Besides appearing to target members of the Fourth Estate for allegedly highlighting their brutality, lethargy and extortion of members of the public, corruption in the service has become the norm.

While traffic officers take bribes from motorists in broad daylight, officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations have perfected abductions and extrajudicial killings.

The DCI killer squads roaming the country in fuel-guzzling all-wheel-drive Subarus searching for perceived government critics have been meting out terror on innocent Kenyans as senior government honchos cheer them on with glee.

Reforms initiated in the police service in 2013 that were meant to turn it into a transparent, professional and accountable entity more responsive and friendlier to the public, have been abandoned.

It is time for the President to implement his vision for the service.

As he strives to fulfill the demands from Generation Z, the President should use his constitutional mandate to ensure proper investigations are conducted into how young protesters were shot dead by the police.

Officers found culpable should be prosecuted.

In the words of Lord Hewart, the late Lord Chief Justice of England, “Justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done.”

Swift action must be taken against officers involved in the attempted abduction of veteran journalist Macharia Gaitho and those who shot and injured Kameme TV reporter Catherine Wanjeri Kariuki.

Police officers must stick to their mandate of protecting the people and their property and resist being used to fight political battles.