Nairobi — A section of political leaders and rights groups have lauded the government’s decision to dissolve the Special Service Unit (SSU), a formation within the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) which succeeded the Moi-era Fly Squad.
President William Ruto ordered the disbandment of the unit as part of his administrations commitment to end extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances largely blamed on the unit.
While weighing in on the directive, Garissa Township MP Aden Duale and Defense Cabinet Secretary nominee said the disbandment of the elite crime unit is a milestone towards ending police brutality.
Duale said that the country “must never again allow ourselves to slide back into the dark past of dirty politics marked with police brutality, torture, and extrajudicial killings.”
He noted many families had lost their loved ones as a result of what he described “state-sponsored and supervised barbarity.”
“I remember, for the longest time, I made passionate but futile appeals to previous regimes to end these atrocities channeled towards innocent people whose only crime was, being ‘politically incorrect’. The country lost so many of its productive sons and daughters in the hands of this ‘killer squad,” Duale said.
On her part, former Nominated Senator Millicent Omanga termed the move by the Head of State as bold step and a new dawn for Kenya and Kenyans.
“The disbandment of the killer Special Service Unit is a bold move by the president is a bold move Kenyans can now breathe a sigh of relief,” Omanga said.
Amnesty International Kenya, a Non-Governmental Organization that works to end human rights violations, welcomed the move saying the National Police Service to disband SSU should clear the way for a probe into its operations.
“Amnesty Kenya welcomes DCI Kenya SSU disbandment. The Kenya Police must also audit SSU activities and publicly respond to allegations of responsibility for enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of many suspects,” the rights group said Sunday.
The SSU was disbanded Sunday following a directive from the Acting Inspector General of Police Noor Gabow acting on President Ruto’s instructions.
“All officers serving in the disbanded unit have been recalled to DCI Headquarters for further instructions,” the DCI said in a statement Sunday.
The move came as the National Police Service prepared for reorganization under the new administration.
The elite squad tasked with combating crimes has been on the spotlight following the mysterious disappearance and death of Kenyans in different parts of the country.
Special Service Unit falls within the Directorate of Criminal Investigation.
The unit was created in 1999 as a Special Crime Prevention Unit, later Flying Squad, before it adopted the new name in 2019 when the former DCI boss George Kinoti took over as the country’s chief detective.
It was created due to the increased cases of complex crimes within the country.
“It discharges its duties under the immediate supervision of the Director Operations DCI-Hqs and on several occasions assist in areas where Crime is perceived to be on the rise within the Country,” a statement posted on the DCI website on Sunday stated.
Some of the crimes that the unit was tasked to combat include cases of illegal trafficking of firearms and or ammunition, trafficking of narcotic drugs, violent robberies, cases of stealing of goods in transit, and illegal human trafficking.
While commenting on its disbandment, President Ruto said he was committed to sustaining police reforms to put to and end cases for enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
“I have ordered the disbandment of the SSU unit of the police that was arbitrarily executing Kenyans. That is the history we want to forget. Let our competitors not remind us of the many things they did against this country,” he said.
He singled out the discovery of bodies at the infamous River Yala among reasons which motivated his decision even as he promised sustained police reforms.
“The security situation had deteriorated. We saw people’s bodies discovered dumped in the Yala River after being killed indiscriminately. We want to tell these guys (The opposition) that they cannot prevent us from transforming this country,” Ruto said.