Police officers in Kenya appear to retain their “licence to kill” four years after a United Nations probe found shootings involving the law enforcers are rarely investigated.
This, we believe, allows some rogue policemen to get away with murder. Despite reforms meant to address this problem, some officers continue to shoot dead unarmed youth without fear of arrest or censure.
This reflects the state of affairs in February 2009 when a UN special envoy on extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions conducted a fact-finding mission in Kenya.
Prof Philip Alston found proof police often kill in the name of crime control, often “in circumstances where they could readily make an arrest”.
This practice is prone to widespread abuse as has been shown in the case of Dr James Mururi, the son of a former Member of Parliament. The officer who shot him dead filed a report he had killed a bank robber and Mungiki member “thus invoking the magic formula designed to ensure no one would question the need to shoot the suspect dead”.
Only the fact that Muiruri’s father was politically connected led to the investigation that ended with murder charges against the police officer an accomplice.
“Standard operating practice for police around the world would require comprehensive reporting of every such killing and impartial investigation is undertaken,” the Alston team reported.
But as we report elsewhere in this paper, there is no sign this is happening. Without such measures, nobody can tell whether shootings by police are justifiable or unlawful.
