Civil society killings a chilling warning

By Kipkirui K’Telwa

Kenyans be warned: It is becoming increasingly easy to be killed by bullets from State gun and be tagged either a Mungiki suspect or robber on the run. And trust the Government and Police Spokesmen Alfred Mutua and Eric Kiraithe to yap that you were a jambazi and mfuazi wa haramu Mungiki.

I am still trying to adjust to the terrifying and heinous executions of human rights activists Oscar Kamau King’ara and Paul Oulu of Oscar Foundation.

The fact that they were executed on Thursday night just a few hours after Government Spokesman Alfred Mutua accused their organisation of fundraising for Mungiki abroad chills me more. Has Kenya remained a police state since the contentious 2007 General Elections when State turned fire on its own citizens?

I dare ask: Do we really need the law courts if guns can work effectively? Isn’t it time law courts were brought down and its staff deployed to other government sections? Why maintain judges and magistrates when criminal suspects could be executed?

Kenyans fear for their lives: You can starve to death because the food commodities have either disappeared from the market or their prices have risen beyond reach of many. Even escaping starvation does not guarantee you life.

Police, like criminal gangs on the loose, are fast to pull a trigger to snap away an innocent life.

With my little legal knowledge, I can authoritatively state that the legislations that set up both the Administration Police and Kenya Police forces do not authorise the officers to kill suspects or people they do not agree with. I am sure that both the Police and Government Spokesmen know that our police officers have never been keen to fight criminal activities. Otherwise how did groups such as Mungiki, Talibans, Chinkororo and the fictitious Kalenjin warriors flourish?

The killings of the Oscar Foundation bosses is a chilling warning to Kenyans that besides taking away our fundamental rights, the government will not hesitate to take away our lives – and even dead bodies.

Otherwise what was the rationale of shooting to death a student protesting the executions of fellow citizens. Why were the police fast to remove dead bodies before securing the scene of crime? Was it a cover-up?