Take action against officers who beat up Nandi Hills youths

Police officers assault young men playing pool in Nandi Hills. [File, Standard]

A disturbing video circulating on social media clearly captures Nandi Hills youths being assaulted by armed police officers. The crime, allegedly committed by officers from the Nandi Hills Police Station, occurred at 11.51 pm on January 10, 2026.

According to the video, the youths – dressed in red hoodies and black clothing – are seen playing pool inside a building before appearing unsettled moments later and attempting to flee.

Shortly afterwards, armed police officers are seen entering the establishment, ordering all the young men to lie on the floor. The officers then order them to produce their national identity cards, which the young men did not have at the time. This prompts the police officers to use cue sticks to assault the young men.

It appears, according to the video, that playing pool is a crime and thus the excessive police action. There is no law, under the Laws of Kenya, which criminalises pool games nor requires one to carry their national identity cards while playing pool or at all times.

Youths in various parts of the country engage in many activities to pass time and entertain themselves. The Nandi Hills youths chose playing pool as their leisure activity. This game can produce world champions and create life-changing opportunities. Evidently, darts champion David Munyua made history in late 2025 by becoming the first Kenyan to win a match at the PDC Worlds Championship in London, defeating Belgium's Mike de Decker in a memorable comeback victory, sparking national pride and global attention for Kenyan darts. Munyua, a veterinary doctor, was introduced to darts by a friend, and it later changed his life.

Austrian professional pool champion Albin Ouschan and recently the WPA 8-Ball World Champion 2025, began his career in 2007 under similar circumstances as those of the Nandi Hills youths. Uniformed police officers illegally criminalising pool game could stifle these global opportunities for the youths.

There are procedural and substantive provisions of the law that provide the due process to be followed by police officers and their conduct, if they suspect an offence. However, police brutality is not among them. The principle in a constitutional democracy is that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Kenya aspires to be a first world country. This can be achieved by first implementing the rule of law.The law can drive development by being the crucial factor that promotes social progress.

Notably, police have intentionally targeted young people with excessive force since the 2024’s June 25 anti-Finance Bill. The courts have, time and again, consistently ruled against police brutality in various matters. No police officer should imagine that the police service is not under the rule of law. No one is above the law.

Article 244 of the Constitution requires the National Police Service to strive for the highest standards of discipline among its members and to promote and practice transparency and accountability. Discipline among its members, means respect for the law.

As these police officers decided to suspend human dignity, they too should be suspended from the service by the Inspector General of Police. The Independent Policing Oversight Authority should immediately initiate investigations into the conduct of these officers with a view to prosecuting them as the evidence is all there in the disturbing video.

Mr Kithinji is a human rights lawyer. [e-mail]