EMBU, Kenya, Aug 5- Two is not just a number.
But the numbers are more than that since Kenya effected stringent preventive measures meant to curb the spread of COVID-19 disease in March, 2020.
Lobby group, Independent Medico Legal Unit (IMLU) has documented at least 25 cases of extra-judicial killings and 43 cases of torture and ill-treatment during the period.
This occurred during the enforcement of the measures laid out by a multi-agency team dealing with the pandemic, led by the Ministry of Health.
But it is the death of the two brothers in Embu on August 1 that has rekindled the ugly memories, including that of 13-year-old Yasin Hussein Moyo, who was shot dead while playing at her parent’s rental house in Nairobi. He was at the balcony of their house in Nairobi’s Huruma neighbourhood.
While police say the two brothers, 22-year-old Benson Njiru Ndwiga, and 19-year-old Emmanuel Marura Ndigwa died out of injuries sustained from allegedly jumping out of a moving police vehicle, lobby groups now say their narrative is faulty, at least according to preliminary investigations.
One of the bodies according to an autopsy carried out on Thursday had serious head injuries, “likely to have been inflicted by a blunt object.”
According to sources within Manyatta Police station, the two brothers sat with the driver-a police officer- when they were arrested, while the rest of the COVID-19 rules ‘flouters’ were put behind the police vehicle.
“The rest were dropped at the station, but the two brothers were left inside the car, at the driver’s seat,” the source said, in a documented evidence by lobby groups.
Where were they taken and at what point did they lose their lives?
Were they executed?
The incident occurred just three days after the duo established a butchery business with the help of their father, in the hope of changing their fortunes. Both are university students.
They were selling pork and on the fateful day, locals and fellow businessmen said “was a good day for them. They had a lot of customers. That is why they closed late.”
After learning they were not at home, the deceased boys’ father John Ndwiga had initially reported them as missing on August 2 at Runyenjes Police Station.
Police told him that his sons were not in custody but the following day, he learnt they were dead and their bodies taken to the Embu Level 5 Mortuary.
-Call For Justice-
Nineteen lobby groups among them Amnesty International-Kenya, IMLU, Haki Africa, Katiba Institute, Kenya Human Rights Commission, the Kenyan Section of International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya), Transparency International Kenya (TI-Kenya) have called for justice of the two brothers.
They welcomed the move by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to dispatch a team of investigators from Nairobi to Embu, in a bid to unravel the truth.
“We sadly note that this is not the first death arising out of police enforcement of COVID-19 measures. Indeed, a number of our members have published reports of deaths caused by police while enforcing these measures,” the 19 lobby groups said in a joint statement.
“Further, we note that suspicious deaths in police custody are one of the circumstances in which the Coroner’s Office under a Coroner-General, would have been called upon to carry out an autopsy, preservation, and analysis of other evidence to ascertain the cause of death including whether they were tortured. Sadly, the National Coroners Service Act 2017 has not been operationalized since its passage in 2017.”
The lobby groups under the Police Working Group-Kenya cautioned police against acting outside the law and instead work within their mandate that is among others to promote peace, human dignity and their freedoms as enshrined in the constitution.
They further called on the Attorney General and Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i to “immediately set up the law to enhance justice and police accountability in Kenya.”
“Furthermore, the PRWG-K calls upon the Inspector General of the NPS to enforce the Sixth Schedule of the National Police Service Act which requires police officers to provide medical assistance when serious injury results from the use of force; and obligates officers to report to superiors and IPOA when death and serious injury results from their actions. The law makes failure to do so a criminal offence which investigators, IPOA, ODPP and the Judiciary should begin enforcing,” the Police Working Group-Kenya said.
IPOA said the move to send officers from Nairobi was to compliment the work of those based in Embu and fastrack the investigations.
“Upon conclusion of the investigations and pursuant to Section 6(a) of the IPOA Act, the Authority will make recommendations, including prosecution if criminal culpability is established on the part of the police officers involved,” IPOA chairperson Anne Makori said in a statement on Thursday.
A police vehicle was torched during protests that ensued after the death of the two university students while a person was shot dead on Thursday by the police.
“The Authority also discourages members of the public from taking the law into their hands by attacking the police and damaging public property as was illustrated yesterday. In this regard, IPOA calls for public calmness and restraint as it undertakes thorough investigations into the matter,” Makori said.
Similar appeals were made by the Police Working Group-Kenya, saying members of the public should desist from taking the law into their hands “as we push the justice actors to speed up investigation and ensure the perpetrators are brought to book. We also call upon them to assist the police with information relevant in the investigations.”
Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai has since directed the Internal Affairs Unit to probe the death of the 2 brothers.
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