Kenya's police boss, Japheth Koome, has resigned amid criticism over police response to recent anti-government protests that left over 30 people dead.
In a statement, President William Ruto announced he had accepted Koome's resignation as Inspector General of the National Police Service and appointed his deputy, Douglas Kanja, in an acting capacity with immediate effect.
It comes a day after Ruto sacked nearly his entire cabinet, bowing to the demands of protesters.
Human rights groups, including the state-backed watchdog, have accused police of excessive use of force against protesters, including firing of live bullets at crowds. Ruto previously said investigations will be conducted to determine the police's culpability to the deaths.
Stormed parliament
The youth-led protests against planned tax hikes started off last month. Some demonstrators briefly stormed parliament, before Ruto abandoned the new taxes.
Some of the young Gen-Z Kenyans behind the demonstrations had called for Koome to go in the most serious crisis of Ruto's near two-year presidency.
Ruto said on Thursday that he would "immediately engage in extensive consultations across different sectors and political formations, with the aim of setting up a broad-based government".
Bodies discovered
Meanwhile Kenyan police said they have launched an investigation after nine bodies were found on Friday in piles of rubbish at a dumpsite in a Nairobi slum.
Police briefly fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse an angry crowd at a police station near the site of the grisly find in Mukuru, in the south of the capital, an AFP journalist said.
The bodies of both men and women were discovered in plastic bags among mountains of garbage in the former quarry, witnesses told AFP.
Nairobi police chief Adamson Bungei confirmed the discovery.
"Investigations have been launched to establish the identities and how these people were killed," he told journalists.
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