Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has blamed bribery, handouts and unmet promises on electoral violence witnessed in parts of the country.
He blamed politicians giving out the handouts and monetary promises that are not met for the violence even as he added they are prepared to handle the August polls.
Matiang’i said the country is generally safe and ready to hold the polls.
“We are ready for the elections so far. The police have presented their reports on the preparedness of the polls. We are ready,” he said.
The CS spoke after meeting a multi-agency team to discuss election preparedness at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.
The CS said there had been four incidents of violence in the past months, and they were all linked to handouts and unmet promises.
“It’s not the job of police officers to mediate disputes of handouts or failed promises. Let us have decent campaigns and be responsible,” he said.
“The endemic false promising of money to the people, an incredible amount of bribery and failing young people, and sometimes mismanaging those organisations on the ground and causing conflict remain a challenge,” he added.
He said the team would henceforth be meeting monthly to review the election preparations.
Those present included the National Police Service, officials from Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji, National Cohesion and Integration Commission chairman Samuel Kobia, the intelligence community, among others.
He said wanainchi never gang up against each other unless incited by politicians.
He also told politicians to stop harassing public servants and abusing them while on duty.
“Don’t be intimidated by politicians. Respect public servants. Attacking those with no platform to defend themselves is immoral,” the CS noted.
He said they will increase police deployments across the country ahead of the elections.
According to him, politics and common sense are not mutually exclusive. He was responding to claims by a section of UDA politicians that police were abetting violence in some areas.
