On February 20, 2020, Nairobi Senator Johnston Sakaja brought to the floor of the house the issue of extra-judicial killings, which led to the Senate Standing Committee on Justice Legal Affairs and Human Rights taking up the matter.
Research findings presented before the Senate on Wednesday revealed that families of victims and survivors are forced to pay for the bullets used on their kin and postmortem charges, yet what they need at that time is justice, legal, psychosocial support, and reparations.
A killer cop in every slum and informal settlement in the country has been revealed by the findings of a research by the Social Justice Center Working Group (SJCWG). One such officer is Ahmed Rashid, who operates in Pangani, Eastleigh, and Mathare areas, and runs a police gang dubbed The Pangani Six.
According to the report, Rashid arrests and takes young men from Mathare to a petrol station in Juja Road, where he has an illegal holding cell for his victims before he kills them. Rashid's name came to light in 2017 when he was captured on camera executing two young men in broad daylight in Eastleigh.
Another shadowy killer cop cited in the findings is Hessy Wa Dandora, who operates online on Facebook under the name Nairobi Crime Free. The page profiles 'wanted' criminals in Nairobi when still alive and later reports their cold-blood murder after they have been executed by the police.
The group presented a six-point recommendation to the Senate Standing Committee on Justice Legal Affairs and Human Rights, including strengthening the witness protection agency and stopping the police from using live bullets during peaceful protests.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has been mandated to investigate cases touching on officers of the disciplined services, but the justice group feels they need to be strengthened more, expanded to all counties, and provided with enough resources to operate fully and successfully.
Since its establishment in 2011, IPOA has only managed to investigate 5,940 cases, which the justice group terms as a low success.
