Police squads’ death camps

Travellers on the busy Nairobi-Nakuru road marvel at the scenic beauty and fresh air at the expansive Kinale Forest. But to locals, the lush green forest emits smell of death, as it is the preferred dumping site for victims of police killings.

The proximity of Kinale and Ngong forests from the city has turned them into death camps where security forces dump bodies of people executed.

Stringent regulations in mortuaries during the depositing of bodies, especially those that have bullet wounds and attempts to cover up their acts have been cited as the reason why police throw bodies in forests.

The bodies are dumped in the forest to ostensibly make it look like the deceased were victims of normal criminal activity, but the incidents have been traced to police hit squads.

John Ngugi, a resident of Kinale explains that the forest has been turned into a dumping site of human bodies believed to have been executed by the police elsewhere.

Many skeletons

"The bodies are always riddled with bullets. When villagers can’t identify them, it means they were executed elsewhere then dumped in the forest," explains Ngugi.

He adds that in a recent incident, bodies of three young men were discovered by traders heading to Soko Mjinga market. The villager added that six bodies have been recovered in Kinale forest and taken to Naivasha Mortuary and up to now none of them has been identified.

In Ngong Forest, Simon Parkesian explains that cases of bodies being dumped in the forest peaked between 2005 and 2008 during the crack down of the outlawed Mungiki sect.

"Cases of pastoralists stumbling on skeletons of human beings or bodies deposited in the Ngong forest has been reported many times," adds Parkesian.

According to the Release Political Prisoners Executive Director Odhiambo Oyoko, three bodies had been recovered from Ngong forest and were taken to the city mortuary and only one was identified.

"The total cases that have been reported to RPP are 17. They include three in Murang'a and Lang'ata, while two people were killed in Kahawa, Dandora, Kajiado and Naivasha. One person was killed in Parklands," he explains.

Oyoko explained that some of the witnesses had been threatened and some have been killed but no single police officer has been held to account.

"Death squads have been created under Kenya Police and have been carrying out these killings," said Oyoko.

"RPP believes that the squads are sanctioned at the highest level of Government. These squads operate with complete impunity as no single officer has been held accountable for the cases we have documented," he added.

He explained that for the situation to end, the Government should act on the recommendations of UN special Rapportuer on extra-judicial killings, Philip Alston.

"The Minster for Internal Security should issue a statement on the steps he has taken to end extra-judicial killings, disbandment of the death squads and the prosecution of perpetrators and reform the police to bring greater accountability," he explains.

The Executive Director of Independent Medical Legal Unit (IMLU) Peter Kiama said the organisation had between October last year to date handled 19 cases of extrajudicial killings and 33 of torture by police.

"IMLU has been working with counsellors, doctors and lawyers in assisting relatives of victims of torture, forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings," explains Kiama.

Silence

Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) commissioner Hassan Omar says the commission has been documenting and investigating cases of extra-judicial killings.

"The current administration has witnessed the highest number of extra-judicial killings and the silence from the Government indicates it is sanctioned from the highest level," explains Omar.

Omar says the trend was serious and added that stern action should be taken against those implicated.

"Police officers responsible are well know and the force should take deliberate measures to ensure they are arrested and prosecuted. Failure to do this will aggravate the situation," he says.

The head of delegation of the European Union to Kenya, Lodewijk Briet, called on the Government to speed up the reform agenda in order to end the extra-judicial killings. Briet expressed concern that cases of extra-judicial killings were on the rise, which had put the Government’s commitment to human rights into question.

"Police reforms and other institutional reforms are necessary to end the increasing cases of extrajudicial killings in the country. Political goodwill is also important," added the envoy.