NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 17- A damning report on suspected cases of extrajudicial killings in the country and one handed over to President William Ruto has led to the disbandment of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation’s Special Service Unit, Shahidi News has established.
In the report, the suspected enforced disappearance of two Indians and their driver featured prominently.
Their fate and whereabouts remain unknown months after they went missing.
Over the years, tens of people including suspects of crimes were abducted by people said to be police officers, only for their bodies to be recovered either dumped in rivers, forests, and sometimes in the mortuary.
More than 20 bodies were recovered from River Yala in Siaya County- some of the suspects who had been arrested from as far as Nakuru and Machakos.
President Ruto on Sunday said the unit had been used to engage in extrajudicial killings.
The order to disband the unit was issued by Ag Inspector General of Police Noor Gabow, on the directive of the President.
Hundreds of extra-judicial killings have been documented by human rights organizations under the Missing Voices banner.
The Yala river became famous over the last year. Not for its fast-moving waters, depended upon by the communities living along its banks, but for being the dumping ground for those who have become fishers of men, engaging in extra-judicial killings.
Human rights activists have long pointed the finger at the police service, stating that special units within the service, particularly the DCI, were behind the murders of persons who, after identification, were found to have criminal records within the criminal justice system.
“We have disbanded that unit that used to kill Kenyans recklessly,” the President said on Sunday.
He was speaking during a Church service held at Kericho County.
“That is the history we want to forget. Let our competitors not remind us of the many things they did against this Country.”
In a bid to get the Country off the list of notorious countries where law enforcers have been accused of breaking the law, the Country’s commander in Chief of Defence Forces and civilian security agencies noted that major changes expected within the police service will cure that vice that has over the years seen thousands of lives lost.
” We have also a plan on how to secure this Country so that we avoid the shame of Kenyans, killed through extrajudicial killings and put in Yala river and other rivers, we are going to secure this Country going into the future,” he said.
In the past, police officers have been indicted for murdering Kenyans in cold blood.
A police officer known as Katitu was convicted of killing a man in Mwiki, and former police officer Fredrick Leliman and others were found guilty for the murder of lawyer Willy Kimani and two others.
Over the last few years, bodies of men, some dismembered, have been found in various rivers in Kiambu and Machakos, with the Ngong forest a favorite spot for the dumping of bodies by unknown people.
“The former regime destroyed our country,” the President said.
The disbanded elite squad unit was created in 1999 and was previously known as Special Crime Prevention Unit before it adopted the new name in 2019 when the former DCI boss George Kinoti was at the helm.
It discharged its duties under the immediate supervision of the Director of Operations at the DCI headquarters.
On several occasions, the unit assisted in areas where Crime is perceived to be on the rise within the Country.
Under Kinoti’s tenure, The DCI has witnessed changes in its specialized units, one of the most critical being the disbandment of the infamous Flying squad unit in 2020.
When he first disbanded the unit in 2018, he rebuilt it and ensured it worked from Nairobi. He was then responding to claims that some officers were involved in crime.
Equally, the Special Crime Prevention Unit (SCPU) was scaled down to a smaller unit and renamed Special Service Unit (SSU).
Another squad had been formed and named Sting Squad Headquarters (SSH), comprising a maximum of 50 specialized officers who respond to specific cases.
Both Squads; the now disbanded SSU and SSH were expected to be linked directly to the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau (CRIB) for intelligence-driven operations alongside other augmenting Units.
The flying squad unit was first dismantled in 2006, and most of its officers were replaced by those from the paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU).
Other special units under DCI include Special Crimes Prevention Unit, Cyber Crime Unit, Criminal Intelligence Unit and Anti-Terror Police Unit (ATPU).
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