Human rights groups in Kilifi county have issued a seven-day ultimatum to the government to remove the Sabaki bridge police roadblock or they would hold mass demonstrations.
The activists alleged the roadblock being manned by hooded special forces officers had become a menace to the public as the commandos harass people and demand bribes.
Led by Francis Auma, the rapid response officer from Muslims for Human Rights, the activists said they had received complaints from the public that the officers were subjecting motorists and passengers to harassment thus delaying their journeys while conducting searches.
Auma said the hooded officers do not have police numbers and their conduct was questionable since the government banned roadblocks.
“So, we want as an organisation the roadblock to be removed immediately. Those people are not sensitive to the culture and traditions of the coastal people. They search women and we do not know what they want. They search without any expertise. We do not know whether they are immigration officers,” he said.
The Muhuri officer said the roadblock should be removed immediately, and called on the acting Inspector General of Police to issue orders for the roadblock to be disbanded to bring back sanity along the Malindi-Garsen road.
He said police work is to conduct patrols and if they get intelligence of a criminal or a terrorist they should act, but not mount a 24-hour barrier that inconveniences motorists.
The officers on the bridge operate with sniffer dogs and passengers are forced out of vehicles to undergo searches.
Abdi Ogle,an activist from Tana River, said motorists and passengers using the route have complained for a long time that the security officers were harassing them at Sabaki bridge.
He said the people using the route feel threatened because the officers are hooded, their vehicles' number plates are concealed, making it difficult for them to be identified.
“The search is not justified because at times the offices search bags of women carrying inner garments which are exposed to the public,” he said.
Ogle said it was against the law for the officers to harass innocent people and roadblock should be removed.
