The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has taken action against a police officer who was caught on camera firing a tear gas canister at unarmed civilians at close range during anti-government protests.
In a statement on Friday, July 19, the oversight authority disclosed that it had submitted the officer's file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
"IPOA sent this officer’s file and others to the ODPP," read the statement by IPOA on X.
In the incident, the officer, who was in plain clothes, was loading civilians detained during the protests into a police vehicle before he fired a tear gas canister at other civilians and journalists who were documenting the scene at Nairobi CBD.
The tear gas canister hit and injured one of the civilians who was at the scene.
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The incident attracted outrage on social media, as many Kenyans called for the arrest and prosecution of the officer.
Meanwhile, on July 17, IPOA disclosed that it was pushing the judiciary to issue warrants of arrest against senior police officers.
Speaking on Citizen TV's Daybreak show, IPOA commissioner John Waiganjo noted that the commanders were not willing to cooperate in the investigations into the police conduct during the recent anti-government protests.
Waiganjo disclosed that IPOA officers faced hostility during their investigations and were not accorded any information by the police.
"I think in the lifetime of IPOA, we have not seen the level of uncooperation we are seeing now from police commanders and senior police officers. We are going out of our way now to push the matter to the judiciary to issue even warrants of arrest against senior commanders so that they can come and give us information," the IPOA commissioner stated.
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