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Chairperson of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) Ahmed Issack Hassan and Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja have promised to collaborate more in their mandates.

This was revealed on Thursday, January 9, 2025, when Hassan paid a courtesy call to Kanja at the National Police Service (NPS) headquarters in Nairobi.

Under the current legal setup, IPOA is mandated to provide civilian oversight over the work of the police in Kenya.

“Chairperson of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) Mr. Ahmed Issack Hassan today January 9, 2025, paid a courtesy call on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Douglas Kanja, at NPS Headquarters Nairobi,” NPS stated.

According to the NPS, the two leaders discussed matters of police accountability and transparency in which they promised to collaborate.

“Their discussion focused on strengthening collaboration between NPS and IPOA in achieving their common mandate of ensuring police accountability and transparency,” NPS added.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Eliud Lagat (Kenya Police Service), DIG Gilbert Masengeli (Administration Police Service), the Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin, NPS directors and IPOA commissioners.

IPOA challenges

In November 2024, while appearing before the Departmental Committee on Administration and Internal Security, IPOA CEO Elema Halake lamented that the authority faces the challenges of police officers concealing their identities, using unmarked vehicles and distorting their number plates during operations. 

According to Halake, this made it hard to link specific police officers with crimes they had committed during their line of work.

Abductions

This comes amid a new wave of forced disappearances and abductions targeted on government critics.

In December, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said there have been 13 more cases of abductions or enforced disappearances in the last three months.

In a statement on Thursday, December 26, 2024, KNCHR said there have been 82 cases of abductions and forced disappearances since June 2024.

The body says seven of the recent abduction cases were reported in December 2024 with six of them still missing, bringing to 29 the total number of persons still missing since June 2024.

“The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) continues to monitor with concern the worrying pattern of abductions in several parts of our country. The Commission notes that these abductions are perpetuated clandestinely, with unidentified armed persons. The Commission further notes that those abducted have been vocal dissidents, particularly on social platforms. There have been 13 more cases of abductions or enforced disappearances in the last three months bringing to 82 the total cases since June 2024,” KNCHR said.

“Seven of the recent abduction cases were reported in the month of December 2024 with six of them still missing, bringing to 29 the total number of persons still missing since June 2024. The Commission strongly condemns these abductions which fall outside the dictates of the Constitution. Abductions are torture, cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment: a non derogable right. They have no place in a democratic state like ours! The Commission warns that if these patterns of abductions continue, then we shall be rapidly retrogressing back to the dark days of our history when such attacks were primarily to inflict fear on any person critical of the Government.”