Where do you stand on police killings? Activists ask Mutyambai

MOMBASA, Kenya, Mar 24- 18 local and international human rights organizations want the Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai to declare his stand on extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in Kenya.

In details contained in a report dubbed ‘The Brutal Pandemic’ that documents police killings and forceful disappearances in 2020, the organizations termed IG’s silence as an enabler to unending police executions.

Between January to December last year the organizations through the Missing Voices-a data collection and verification website documented 157 executions and 10 disappearances linked to police.

“This is the highest number verified since its inception in 2018, last year the project verified and published 144 cases of police killings and enforced disappearances,” they said in a report launched in Mombasa on Tuesday.

Of the 167 cases, the report shows 83 per cent of cases haven’t been investigated.

According to the report, only 3.5 per cent of the documented cases have had perpetrators arrested and a paltry seven per cent are under investigation by Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).

This comes as a country marks one year since the announcement of COVID 19 containment measures and as the world mark the International Day for the Right to the Truth concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims.

“COVID-19 containment measures, including dawn to dusk curfew, the month of May witnessed the highest number of people killed by police at 27. In September, the police killed three people, the lowest number in 2020,” Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI), chairman Khelef Khalifa said at the launch of the report.

According to the report, most of the people killed were from lower-income areas, especially in urban areas, where it seems they live outside the law’s protection.

“From our verified cases, most of the victims were killed in what police call anti-crime operations,” the report reads in part adding that there is an emerging trend where the police kill victims in groups and allege they are robbers or part of a gang.

“One feature of most police killings cases is that they take an inordinate amount of time before they are taken to court,” it adds.

Continued police brutality despite the high-level police and policy reforms initiatives, the report said, pointed to a disconnect between policing blueprints and community experiences or a failure of discipline and command control.

“The low numbers of officers held to account doesn’t measure to the number of those who remain free and continue to abuse the policing code,” reads the report.

The lobbyists called on the IG to present to the national assembly their own data of police killings, action taken and status of investigations in cases of police brutality.

They also want Mutyambai to respond publicly to Missing Voices 2019 and 2020 police killings reports as well as comply with the president’s directive by stopping transfers of officers who violate human rights but instead, name, dismiss and prosecute them.

“Inspector General to report on reports that the Pangani Police Station has six officers that go by the name of Hessy wa Dandora, Barasa, and Corporal Rashid among others that have thirty cases of extrajudicial killings,” the report reads.

“This cannot be a case of bad apples as it is usually alleged, someone and this is the IG of police must take responsibility for these killings if he cannot rein in those he commands. His silence on the entire matter leaves a lot to be desired. We need him to come out and tell us if these killer officers do it under his command,” Hussein Khalid Haki Africa Executive Director said.

Apart from seeking a public pronouncement from IG and Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiangi condemning police excesses, they demanded implementation of the National Coroner’s Act and the Prevention of Torture Act and the establishment of a National Commission of inquiry into violations by security agents.

“We also call for reparations of victims and families of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances,” Renee Ngamau, the Amnesty International Kenya board chairperson said.

International Justice Mission, Defenders Coalition, Kenya Human Rights Organisation, International Commission on Transitional Justice, International Commission of Jurist Kenya, Code for Africa, Social Justice Centre Working Group, Kituo cha Sheria, Protection International Kenya, Human Rights Watch, Peace Brigade International, and Henrich Boll Stiftung are among the organizations behind the Missing Voices initiatives.