Kenya's Kibaki demotes police chief to post office

By Daniel Wallis

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki sacked his police chief on Tuesday and sent him to run the post office, in a move cautiously welcomed by rights groups calling for security services reform.

Former police commissioner Hussein Ali had faced mounting pressure since February when a damning U.N. report into extra-judicial killings said he should be sacked because of hundreds of alleged murders by men under his command.

Ali was replaced by Mathew Kirai Iteere, the former commandant of the police's paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU), Kibaki's office said in a statement.

"I think finally the president is responding to popular pressure for some kind of overhaul in the police leadership," Hassan Omar Hassan, vice-chairman of the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), told Reuters.

"Whether simply changing a person or two constitutes fundamental police reform remains to be seen. We're welcoming the changes, but with a cautious position ... eventually what we need to see is comprehensive reform of the police force."

Kenya's police force has consistently been voted the most corrupt institution in east Africa's biggest economy since an anti-graft watchdog began publishing bribery surveys. This year, it was ranked the most corrupt body in the region as well.

EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS

The U.S. government said in a statement it had consistently made clear the need for fundamental reforms to strengthen the rule of law in Kenya's police force and judiciary.