Sanction IG Kanja and Interior CS over police killings, MPs told

Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja. [File, Standard] Members of Parliament have been urged to sanction Interior Cabinet Secretary and the Inspector General of Police over police misconduct during the anti-tax demonstrations. The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and the Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (Ipoa) said the two should be held responsible for police misconduct. The groups appeared before the National Assembly Administration and Internal Security Committee to shed light on abductions, extrajudicial killings and the results of their investigations. They offered non-conclusive information on police conduct during the Gen Z anti-government demonstrations. The State human rights agency particularly wants IG Douglas Kanja to provide deployment plans as well as officers involved in the operations, their names, ranks and service numbers. They said Kanja should ensure that the commission accesses all police stations as well as any required information. The commission faulted the Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga, saying he is yet to charge anyone despite investigations being complete and files forwarded to him. KNCHR said 60 people were killed during the demos as a result of bullet wounds suspected to have been fired by the police officers. They added that 1,376 people were arrested countrywide, saying the number could be higher but due to budget constraints they were not able to monitor the whole country. They had recorded 71 cases of abductions with 26 people still missing. Ipoa on the other hand said six people were missing, two were killed and 20 others were found alive. From the statistics, Ipoa said it was investigating the circumstances under which the two victims met their deaths and four injuries sustained by victims suspected to have been abducted by the police. KNCHR said they had recorded 601 injuries mostly inflicted by the police. Prof Marion Mutugi, a commissioner, said 25 police officers sustained injuries inflicted by protestors. "There was indiscriminate arrest of children that is contravention of the Childrens Act and International Conventions," said Mutugi. Ipoa CEO Elema Halakhe was at pains to offer the MPs information regarding cases they are probing of police misconduct. Halakhe said the identity of the officers involved in the abductions and killings depends on the outcomes of investigations, adding that it is on a case-to-case basis. "The proof is determined case by case as we investigate and bring out conclusion to those cases," he said. He declined to name any police units involved, saying that there were a few instances where they were able to establish the officers involved were from specialised units. "We cannot be able to put a blanket and say the National Police Service is responsible," he said. KNCHR recorded 71 cases of abductions with 26 people still missing. Ipoa said one the cases that they are investigating is of Dennis Kimotho who was arrested by police officers in Rongai, Kajiado County. He was taken to the Ngong Law Courts and was released on bail but did not have the money to pay so he was taken to the Industrial Area Remand Prison as his lawyer processed the cash bail. After the bail was paid, he could not be traced in the cells. Another victim, Daniel Kabusho, ran a business together with his friends Richard Mbeke and Joseph in Mombasa County. The three were arrested on June 5 trafficking eight Ethiopian nationals. They were arraigned at the Mombasa Law Courts, where Kabusho went missing. "If a person is taken to court and abducted from that court, where are we safe?" said Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma. The MPs put to task Halakhe to offer more information on Kimotho. "Can you really say you cannot get the officers involved," said Kaluma. Saku MP Dido Raso said the failure by Ipoa to give the information amounts to a cover-up. "We are not faulting the National Police Service, we are faulting people who are breaking the law and we should be told who are these lawbreakers who are breaking the law with impunity," he said. According to Ipoa the lack of enough resources hampered them from doing their work. They said that they only have regional offices in Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret Meru, Kakamega, Garissa and Nyeri counties instead of all the 47 counties. According to Mutugi, KNCHR recorded cases of officers concealing their identities as well as using unmarked vehicles, which made it possible to hold the officers to account. KNCHR said 60 people were killed during the demos as a result of bullet wounds suspected to have been fired by the police officers. KNCHR said that police during the demonstrations were at fault for their conduct, singling out the teargassing of medics who were at Jamia Mosque and the Holy Family Basilica. "Many of the people that we have interviewed and reported to us, have said that during release from custody they were frisked and robbed of their valuable and money by security officers who arrested them," said Professor Mutugi. She added that Ipoa should recommend for the pressing of command responsibility charges in cases where they cannot zero in on the responsible officers. According to Professor Mutugi, on July 25 a pro-government group of protestors using motorcycles were fueled at a petrol station along Mombasa and police never interfered with them despite chanting anti Gen Z slogans. From their record, there were Kenyans who were arrested by the police and not booked while others were held for more than 24 hours before being freed or produced in court. She added that there were 45 children arrested and held together with adults during the demos "There are some people who came to our offices and made statement and that very evening they were abducted," said Mutugi, she however noted that they were freed not long after. They claimed that despite having an expanded mandate the government has purposely underfunded them which is preventing them from carrying out their duties. The commission said that it had interviewed more than 25 people who had been abducted and freed and claimed that it was the police who were behind their ordeals. "A number of them told us they were handcuffed and were able to memorize the serial numbers of the handcuffs," a member of the commission told MPs. He added that the abductors had guns, walkie talkies and the abductees were held in basement cells, which leads to the conclusion that it is the police behind the abductions. The commission said that they would follow up on the identity of a body found in a dam in Wajir County that was believed to be that of Wajir MCA Yussuf Hussein but whose DNA turned out negative. "Even if he was not the missing MCA, he is still a Kenyan, we will follow up and give a report," said the KNCHR vice chairperson Raymond Nyeris. Wajir MP Fatuma Jehow said it was not right that Kenyans were going missing without answers. "It breaks us to pieces that we have come out asking for him [Yussuf] and nothing is forthcoming," she said.

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