37 killed in August 8 post-election violence, KNCHR reports

Thirty-seven people were killed after the August 8 elections, the national human rights body reported on Monday.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said 35 of the deaths were caused by excessive use of force by police officers while quelling protests against the declaration of Uhuru Kenyatta as re-elected president.

“Except for two cases caused by civilians, the rest were allegedly because of excessive use of force by police documented between August 9 and 15,” said Kagwiria Mbogori, the KNCHR chairperson.

Ms Mbogori said seven of the victims were minors.

“The dead include a six-month-old baby who was clobbered by armed security agents whilst under the care of its mother in Kisumu County,” she said.

The remaining 30, the report notes, were aged between 20 and 45, with 28 of them being male.

In a report dubbed Mirage at Dusk, KNCHR gives an account of the human rights violations in the election that was nullified by the Supreme Court.

Gender-based violence

The document details other forms of violence including sexual and gender-based violence, all as result of police excesses.

Out of the 126 cases of grave and minor injuries documented in the report, only three constituted cases of civilian-to-civilian confrontation.

“On August 12, in Nyalenda, Kisumu County, administration police officers forcefully entered a house of a 30-year-old female civilian. They slapped her, demanded money and her phone before dragging her into her bedroom and raping her,” reads the report.

Most of victims of the post-election violence were from the Opposition strongholds in the country.

“These deaths documented in this report were victims who were killed in Kawangware, Mathare, Kibra, Lucky Summer, Baba Ndogo, and Huruma, all in Nairobi County, Kondele, Manyatta, Nyamasaria, Nyalenda, in Kisumu County, Siaya town and Ugunja in Siaya County, and Rangwe in Homa Bay County,” said KNCHR Principal Human Rights Officer Anne Marie Okutoyi.

She added that there might be more fatalities which KNCHR may not have received information on at the time of the launch of the report.

"Despite efforts and good intentions, Kenya has yet to achieve the democratic reality of an election unmarred by irregularities and violence," said the KNCHR chairperson.