MP Moves To End Police Arrests, Detention On Fridays
The Bill is a republication of the 2020 version introduced in the House for debate but lapsed before it could be enacted...
Marvin Chege 
Belgut Member of Parliament (MP), Nelson Koech, is proposing changes to the Criminal Procedure Code Act which will see Kenyans arrested on Fridays or over the weekends no longer having to spend nights in police cells awaiting the processing of their bonds on a working day.
Koech is sponsoring the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill 2023 which aims to make it mandatory for police officers to grant a bond to persons arrested without a warrant, except for capital offences of murder, treason, robbery, and attempted robbery with violence.
The Bill is a republication of the 2020 version introduced in the House for debate but lapsed before it could be enacted.
Belgut MP, Nelson Koech. /FILE
Specifically, the proposed Bill seeks to tame the abuse of the police force for political reasons by arresting people on Fridays or weekends and having them detained in police cells pending their arraignment or granting of a bond the following week.
The new changes will also save thousands of citizens who are extorted by rogue police officers after being arrested for minor offences.
“The officer in charge of the police station shall in any case if it does not appear practicable bring that person before the court within 24 hours after the person has been so taken into custody, inquire into the case, and, release the person on his executing a bond.
“But where a person is retained in police custody he shall be brought before a subordinate court as soon as practicable,” reads the law in part.
However, this can only happen if the officer in charge has undertaken due police inquiry, and insufficient evidence is, in his opinion, disclosed on which to proceed with the charge.
“We live in a country where the police can abuse their powers by detaining suspects in cells unnecessarily long for political reasons. Gone are the days when people would be arrested on a Friday and taken to court on a Monday after spending the whole weekend in police cells.
“Assume Monday was a holiday and therefore not a working day! This unconstitutional power must therefore be dealt with if Kenyans have to enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms,” he argued.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration was widely accused of using the police to fight its political wars with rivals.
Politicians largely from the opposition would be arrested on a Friday in what infamously became known as “Kamata kamata Friday” and locked in over the weekend only to be arraigned the following week.
Among them included Korogocho Member of County Assembly (MCA), Absalom Odhiambo, who was arrested on Monday, January 30 over his remarks bordering on incitement. However, he was set free on Monday, February 6, well beyond the mandatory 24-hour constitutional requirement to be produced in court.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua was also a victim of the arrests, the last coming during his term as Mathira MP.
Sleuths from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission had arrested him on a Friday and detained him until Monday when he was arraigned and released on bail after his bank accounts had been frozen.
As an arrested person in Kenya, you must be arraigned before a court within twenty-four hours of arrest. If the 24-hour period expires on a weekend or a holiday, you must be brought to court before the end of the next court day.
A man in handcuffs. /NAIROBI NEWS
