Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has hit out at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) saying officers there have been abusing their positions.
Speaking during the induction by governors on Thursday, Gachagua accused them of harassing those holding electoral seats, specifically governors.
The DP pointed out that due to the embarrassment they suffer, governors are unable to carry out their constitutional mandate well.
“I want to assure you we are aware of the harassment and intimidation governors have been put through by state agencies,” he said.
“The level of extortion by detectives pretending to be fighting graft whereas they were just extorting money from governors and officials is a thing of the past.”
According to Gachagua, DCI does not have the authority to intervene in the affairs of state agencies unless it is a matter of great public importance; thus, the sleuths agency should refrain from laying siege to county government offices in order to apprehend any alleged corrupt officials.
“We have told DCI to go back to Kiambu Road and wait for crimes to be reported there. They have no business in government offices hovering all over and creating a toxic environment for Service delivery,” he said.
“We cannot have detectives in government offices because they poison the atmosphere for civil servants to deliver.”
Similarly, the DP chastised the DCI for allegedly dispatching junior-ranking police officers to arrest high-ranking elected leaders, noting that this undermines the leaders’ powers and authority in the eyes of their subordinates.
“Let the head of that particular organisation write a letter to the governor himself and not delegate some junior officers to address a sitting governor because that is not right and those are the things we are going to do to restore the dignity of our leaders,” he said,
“This will to enable them to perform because when you embarrass an elected leader in front of his juniors and you go away, how do you expect him to perform the following day?”
