On Tuesday, December 31, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti disbanded the Flying Squad and formed a new unit called Sting Squad Headquarters (SSH) that will have a maximum of 50 detectives.
Speaking hours after the announcement, exiled lawyer Miguna Miguna, alleged that the special units were constituted to be illegal assassination squads.
“Whether they call them “Kwekwe Squad” or “Flying Squad” or “Special Crimes Units,” Kenyans know that these are ILLEGAL ASSASSINATION SQUADS whose primary purpose is the elimination of PERCEIVED THREATS to the illegitimate President. Patriots: MOBILIZE!” Miguna tweeted.
Whether they call them “Kwekwe Squad” or “Flying Squad” or “Special Crimes Units,” Kenyans know that these are ILLEGAL ASSASSINATION SQUADS whose primary purpose is the elimination of PERCEIVED THREATS to the illegitimate President. Patriots: MOBILIZE!https://t.co/PGMWGty8GG
— Dr. Miguna Miguna (@MigunaMiguna) December 31, 2019
Kinoti in a statement said SSH trained officers will respond to specific cases among them armed robberies, kidnappings, motor vehicle theft, sale and distribution of contraband and substandard goods.
“I have disbanded the Flying Squad because of many complaints from the public on how they were operating,” he said.
Kinoti also scaled down The Special Crime Prevention Unit (SCPU) and re-named it Special Service Unit (SSU).
“SSU will have officers with intense training in and outside the country in a bid to enhance their knowledge and abilities,” Kinoti said.
The move has received mixed reactions from Kenyans with a number lauding the DCI boss for the reforms while others were skeptical whether the changes would materialise to anything different.
“Since when Kinoti entered office as the DCI boss, the dirty works of SCPU and Flying Squad have been done by ATPU. Kinoti is simply creating a special intimidation, kidnap and assasination squad within DCI. Foreign financiers of ATPU are not happy with its political works,” tweeted blogger Robert Alai.
My only concern is how rapid can their response be outside Nairobi, considering we had units stationed across the country, but you have only maintained the Nairobi HQ flying squad unit? Or what measures are in place to cover areas outside Nairobi, with specialized units?
— RodgerThat (@rodgersowaga) December 31, 2019
I don’t like the way way the govt is busy changing the names we’ve grown up learning about. CID became DCI for no reason. Good old police uniforms were changed for some unappealing uniforms. Now flying squad is a STING?
Betty Kyalo Dennis Okari Ken Mijungu Miguna Miguna— Clement Amolo (@AmoloClement) December 31, 2019
How is renaming flying squad supposed to improve intensity and accuracy in fighting crime.actually,to be sincere the new titles sounds more of a militia ,than an arm of the diciplined forces.kenyans, when are we going to start asking the hard questions?
— Tonny ™ 🇰🇪 (@TonnyLegal) December 31, 2019