The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has warned that inadequate funding, inadequate staffing and poor cooperation from the National Police Service (NPS) are undermining its mandate of investigating complaints against police officers.
Chairperson, Isaac Hassan, said the authority still relies on the Ministry of Interior to approve its budget before it is tabled in the National Assembly, a process that exposes the institution to bureaucratic delays and weakens its financial independence.
“IPOA is supposed to be an independent body, but the reality is that we still depend on another institution to release funds to us. This makes it difficult to operate with full autonomy,” Hassan told journalists during a training forum in Mombasa.
The authority currently has only 77 investigators and a total workforce of 284 staff to oversee a police force of about 125,000 officers.
Hassan noted that this glaring imbalance significantly slows down investigations, especially when coupled with deliberate resistance from police stations.
“Our investigators often require access to the occurrence book (OB) and arms register in police stations. These are vital documents for establishing accountability. Unfortunately, in many instances our officers are blocked from accessing them, which hampers the pace and quality of investigations,” he said.
Hassan disclosed that IPOA is handling 184 files linked to the post-election protests of 2022 and the recent “Gen Z” demonstrations.
The cases, many of which involve the use of live ammunition and alleged excessive force, have been forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for review and approval.
He added that the slow progress in concluding such cases erodes public trust in institutions meant to safeguard justice.
“Public confidence in state institutions is at epidemic levels of decline. The cynicism, criticism and apathy we are witnessing today have contributed to escalating levels of hate speech and toxic language on social media, which eventually manifest in violence during protests,” Hassan cautioned.
But Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) Director Boniface Maingi pushed back against claims of hostility from the police service, insisting that IPOA and the IAU continue to work together in several cases.
“In incidents involving the use of firearms or the death of protestors, I may open the files, but the actual investigations are conducted by IPOA. That is the working arrangement we have,” Maingi explained, adding that files from within the police service are sometimes handed over to IPOA for follow-up.
The funding challenge is not unique to IPOA. The Witness Protection Agency (WPA) has also decried inadequate allocations that threaten its ability to guarantee the safety of witnesses in sensitive cases.
Director Nelson Njiri said the cost of maintaining one family of four under protection averages Sh5 million annually, with the state covering 99 per cent of the agency’s operating expenses.
“Despite our budgetary limitations, the agency has been instrumental in ensuring the successful conclusion of many court cases by shielding witnesses from intimidation and harm. However, we do not publicise our successes for security reasons,” Njiri said.
Governance experts have long argued that for IPOA to be effective, it must enjoy both financial and operational independence from the Ministry of Interior, while being adequately staffed and resourced to match the scale of the police service it oversees.
Hassan reiterated that without meaningful reforms, the authority’s ability to hold rogue officers accountable and restore public confidence in policing will remain limited.
By Chari Suche
