This archive report was first published on 20 August 2021.
Kenya: Police Brutality Escalates Amid Covid-19 Curfew ¶
As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage the country, Kenyan police have been accused of escalating brutality during the enforcement of containment measures, with numerous cases of extrajudicial executions and torture reported.
According to human rights defenders, rogue police officers have been using tactics that do not easily expose their identities, resulting in the deaths of dozens of Kenyans. The victims are no longer being killed with guns and bullets, but rather with batons, suffocation, drowning, and even butchery.
One of the most recent cases involved the deaths of brothers Benson Njiru Ndwiga, 22, and Emmanuel Marura Ndwiga, 19, who were arrested by police officers on August 1, 2021, in Embu County. The brothers were found dead in a mortuary three days later, with autopsy results showing head and rib injuries. The police claimed the brothers had jumped from a moving police vehicle, but the family and the public have doubted this account.
Another case involved four men who were abducted in Kitengela and found dead, with their bodies dumped in a river in Murang'a. Residents of Murang'a are still seeking answers after the handcuffed bodies of Nicholas Maithya and Asman John Kamau were retrieved from a swollen river at Gatiiguru, after they were arrested at a chang'aa distillery.
On Thursday, Kayole erupted in chaos as residents protested the death of John Kiiru, 38, who was beaten to death for violating the 10pm-4am curfew. Mr. Kiiru was a pillion passenger on a boda and was heading home when police officers arrested him at Tushauriane stage and allegedly beat him to death.
Despite President Uhuru Kenyatta apologizing on behalf of the National Police Service for the brutality meted out on Kenyans during the enforcement of Covid-19 regulations, nothing seems to change. Human rights groups and defenders continue to push for a change in the way police officers treat civilians, but the situation continues to escalate.
According to the Police Reforms Working Group (PRWG), at least 25 cases of extrajudicial executions and a further 43 cases of torture linked to the enforcement of Covid-19 containment measures had been reported since the beginning of the year. PRWG stated that suspicious deaths in police custody are one of the circumstances in which the coroner's office under the coroner-general would have been called upon to carry an autopsy, preservation, and analysis of other evidence to ascertain the cause of death.
"Sadly, the National Coroners Service Act 2017 has not been operationalized since its passage in 2017," PRWG said in a statement.
President of the Law Society of Kenya Nelson Havi called on the resignation or sacking of Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i and National Police Service boss Hillary Mutyambai if the killers are not charged.
