BY NYAMBEGA GISESA

The recent fatal shooting of Kenyatta University student Vincent Kiplangat has raised broad questions on campus security.

Kiplangat, a fifth year engineering student, was allegedly shot dead by a police officer on June 7 at the university’s Annex venue during a fresher’s bash organised by the Kenyatta University Student Association (KUSA).

The student was a bouncer at the event and it is suspected he was involved in an altercation with a plain-clothes police officer (the National Police Service has declined requests to reveal his identity), who supposedly refused to identify himself.

Universities in Kenya have their own civilian security units. However, these are boosted by officers from the Police Service. Sources have also told The Nairobian that National Intelligence Service (NIS) officers remain active in most universities — with or without the knowledge of university administrators.

Just like in the 1980s and 1990s, the intelligence officers, masquerading as students, are still deployed in universities to gather reports and identify new threats.

According to a presentation by Strathmore University dean of students Dr. Paul Ochieng, the need for deploying security agents started in the 1980s when universities turned into political nurseries.

The don says during the clamour for multiparty democracy, violence increased in universities and some students kept weapons in their rooms for self-defence.

“We have reports that there are several intelligence officers in universities,” Tom Mboya, KUSA President and convener of the Kenya University Students Organisation (KUSO) told The Nairobian.

He added that at least 10 plainclothes officers are deployed in every university to beef up security.

However, the killing of Kiplangat is raising questions on the conduct and control of armed police in universities and those sent to quell student protests.

In the recent past, several university students have been fatally wounded by police officers. A number have died as a result of bullet wounds. Although the police have shot and killed dozens of university students, no single incident has ever been conclusively investigated.

Interviews with university lecturers, administrators and students reveal a pattern of reckless and indiscriminate use of firearms by officers, especially those sent to quell protests.

For example, in March 2009 riot police dispersing University of Nairobi students protesting the killing of two human rights activists — Oscar Foundation executive director Oscar Kamau King’ara and the organisation’s programme officer Paul Oulu killed by gunmen on Mamlaka Road — opened fire on students, killing Godwin Ogato, who was at the door of his university hostel room.

After the killing, the then Police Commissioner Hussein Ali said three police officers had been arrested for the killing. Ali promised the three would be charged after ballistic investigations. Not much was heard of the case.

In July 2003, Maseno University was closed indefinitely after two students were shot during a riot that was staged to call for the sacking of the then vice-chancellor Fredrick Onyango.

During the riot, prison warders ordered to help police deal with the day-long protests shot two students. Media and communications student Jacob Ochieng’ was shot in the leg while Edwin Wasabulo of the Education Department was shot in one hand.

Between December 17 and 18, 1996, three Kenyatta University students were shot dead by the police during a demonstration held to commemorate the killing of an Egerton University student.

The riots over the police killings of unarmed KU and Egerton students was thought to be one of the reasons that prompted the sacking of the then Police Commissioner Shadrack Kiruki.

In February 1997, University of Nairobi students went on the rampage over the mysterious death of Solomon Muruli, a student leader, who days earlier had identified a police officer who had allegedly kidnapped and tortured him.

The student leader was burned to death by a fire caused by an explosion in his room.

His death was followed by protests that resulted in the university being closed indefinitely after 14 people, four of them students, died in clashes between opposition pro-reform activists and the police.

The university claimed the police stormed exam halls at the faculties of architecture, design and development and shot two students sitting end of semester examinations.

The shootings were followed by a police lorry running over a student while another one was shot during a pro-reform meeting in Thika.

“The shooting of university students have common denominators,” Mboya says. “None has ever been fully investigated and culprits taken to court.”

The extent and pattern of the police shootings have been obscured from the public view because the investigations are conducted in secrecy and the police have the luxury of damaging information.

“When I was shot on the neck by a police officer in 2003, there was a promise of investigations and the perpetrators being brought to justice,” says Jeff Kirui. “I followed for a few months before the case died.”

Kirui was allegedly shot together with three other students, two of them by an OCS.

In the recent shooting at KU, already there are reports of a cover up. We also found out that the police are giving a different version of the incident, thought to be a way of exonerating the officer. Witnesses, who included bouncers at the event, have recorded multiple statements with the university’s security department and the Kasarani Police Division headquarters.

“Even without revealing his identity, the man ordered one of the bouncers to kneel down,” Mboya said. “After failing to identify himself, Kiplangat pushed the man, whom he never knew was armed, towards the entrance of the venue.”

Witnesses claim that the assailant quickly turned back and shot Kiplangat on his chest. He also allegedly fired two times at students.

“We are now being told that the police officers also died but we have not seen his body. We have not been told who he was or which police station he was attached to,” Mboya says.

During an earlier interview, KU vice-chancellor Olive Mugenda, who has received plaudits for raising the university’s profile, said institutions of higher learning in Kenya are facing growing challenges addressing security concerns.

For instance in November 2011, Alex Matere was stabbed in a fight over the leadership of the giant Students Organisation of Nairobi University.

Last year, USIU student Sarah Aruwa was kidnapped outside the university and killed, allegedly by fellow students. 

In a statement dated July 2012, USIU VC Freida Brown appealed to the government to enhance security in areas where students live outside campus.

Kenyan universities seem to be working hard to fill the security gaps, but it seems a lot still needs to be done.

There are also new risks like fires, cybercrimes, inter-campus gangs and kidnappings that the universities have to deal with. This is even before they sort out petty crimes like theft of electronics.