Following the Shakahola cult massacre, Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof. Kithure Kindiki has ordered a reshuffle of all senior police officers and commanders within Kilifi County.
After touring the region, CS Kindiki told the press on Friday that all top security leadership in the area would be reassigned to other parts. New leadership would be posted to strengthen security and allow for proper investigations.
"Effective today," he stated, "we will transfer all stations, divisions, sub-counties, and county heads, as well as commanders of all agencies within Kilifi County."
He said that It is government policy that all agencies, including police, administration police, criminal investigations, and other departments, such as the National Intelligence Service, must be deployed somewhere else and allow their colleagues from other stations to push the investigations forward.
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According to CS Kindiki, the shake-up in security forces will enable an effective investigation into the Shakahola cult, led by self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie, resulting in more than 109 deaths.
According to the CS, intelligence has revealed that certain present security employees may have received and ignored reports about the cult in the past. Therefore, they cannot be trusted to perform the investigations again.
He said that they would replace them with their colleagues from somewhere else to show the public that what they were doing was for the good of the nation and the interest of justice.
He said that if you are the OCS, the commander, or someone who should have gotten a report and failed to act, you cannot be part of the team conducting the investigations; the objects need to be looking better.
While assuring the people of the government's commitment to root out criminality in the country and bring culprits posing as religious leaders to justice, the Interior Secretary said the government would deploy force equivalent to that used against terrorists and bandits.
