29 October 2008
editorial
Nairobi — The decision by Police Commissioner Hussein Ali to set up a task force to investigate gross sexual crimes committed during the post-election violence is highly welcome.
It must have been informed by the horror expressed in the Waki Commission report on the high number of rapes that occurred during the violence, and the alleged involvement of security personnel who reportedly often joined in the gruesome orgies.
As the Waki report indicates, the commission did not have the capacity to carry out thorough investigations of these rape claims, and the police did not help much in the way of recording or acting on reported cases of individual or gang-rape, mainly because some of the officers were implicated.
In that respect, it is gratifying that the police boss has appointed an 32-strong all-woman team of police investigators, aided by lawyers and counsellors - the very people best suited to make the women victims speak out, and where possible, name their assailants.
Throughout history, rape has always been regarded as an act of war in which the combatants preyed on the most vulnerable members of society - defenceless and often innocent women and children.
To allow such acts to go unpunished is tantamount to allowing impunity to triumph, with the result that any small excuse will give the bloodthirsty hordes the licence to rape and maim again in the future.
However, the worst indictment is the one directed at General Service Unit personnel, administration police, and even regular uniformed police who engaged in this heinous crime - moving from door to door, ostensibly in search of arms and gangsters, but in reality looking for easy prey.
The breakdown of law and order in a country is manifest when those charged with defending the defenceless turn into the tormentors of those victims.
As a result, the matter should not merely end with the task force writing a report.
If it is, indeed, found that the security forces engaged in this grisly behaviour, then that should be the starting point in carrying out the much-desired comprehensive reform of the Police Force.
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