IG Kanja: VIP protection officers will be withdrawn if misused by politicians
Key points
- IG Douglas Kanja, in Keringet (Kuresoi South, Nakuru) with CS Murkomen, warned VIP protection officers will be withdrawn if misused.
- He said every officer on VIP duty must work only as the law prescribes; violations will face legal process.
- Context: Rigathi Gachagua accused some UDA-allied Mt Kenya MPs of turning security details into political tools around the Ol Kalou by-election.
- NTV investigation cited vehicles allegedly used in disruption as linked to aides of legislators and a parastatal chief; journalists were also reportedly attacked.
Inspector-General Douglas Kanja drew a hard line on VIP bodyguards: if police attached to politicians and other state officials are misused, he will pull them immediately, Eastleigh Voice reported from a public baraza in Keringet, Kuresoi South, Nakuru County, where he appeared with Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen.
"If I find the officers being misused… I will withdraw them instantly," Kanja said, adding that VIP protection work must stay inside the law and that officers who break it will face legal consequences. The warning is operational as much as political — protection details are a scarce national resource, not a private militia budget.
Ol Kalou shadow
The remarks followed accusations by Democracy for Citizens Party leader Rigathi Gachagua that some UDA-allied Mt Kenya MPs had turned security details into tools against perceived dissidents during the Ol Kalou by-election period. An NTV investigation later reported that vehicles allegedly used in disruption that afternoon were in the hands of aides linked to some legislators and a parastatal chief, and that journalists filming were also attacked.
Gachagua had earlier claimed a similar model was used in an attack on him and allies at Witima Church. Those claims remain political allegations and media findings until courts or internal police disciplinary files prove individual guilt — but they explain why Kanja's "withdraw instantly" line landed when it did.
What enforcement must show
Public confidence will not come from one baraza quote. Kenyans need named disciplinary outcomes, reassignment logs and a clear channel to report VIP-detail abuse without fear of the same detail. Interior and NPS should publish a simple rule card: what VIP officers may and may not do at rallies, churches and polling centres.
Politics desk: Politics. Track whether any VIP details are actually withdrawn in the next 30 days and whether Ol Kalou-related files produce charge sheets. A zero-withdrawal, zero-file scoreboard would make the Keringet warning look like weather talk.
Until then, the verified position is institutional: the IG has threatened instant withdrawal for misuse, against a backdrop of Mt Kenya by-election violence claims after Ol Kalou. Principals who treat bodyguards as campaign props now know the top cop says he is watching — and a public scoreboard of 0 withdrawals after 30 days would undercut the Keringet warning faster than any rival speech.
Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of Kanja's Keringet remarks and related political/media claims. Court and NPS disciplinary records control proven misconduct.
