A House committee, lawyers, and a rights group are demanding answers following the disappearance of a girl who was due to testify against a policeman charged with defiling her.
It is now 23 days since the 14-year-old reportedly went missing from a children’s home she was living in to protect her as the case against the police man accused of defiling her in a police station in Murang’a went on.
The Law Society of Kenya, the Independent Medical Legal Unit (IMLU), and the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee have questioned how the safest place for witnesses in sensitive cases could have been compromised and demanded an investigation.
LSK President Isaac Okero said there are procedures for releasing a witness under the Witness Protection Agency (WPA), which can only be at the close of the case or if the witness wants to leave and it is ascertained that it is safe.
Mr Okero noted that no one can just walk in and out without being noticed or the visit being recorded. No one is supposed to disclose or give details of a witness who has left or is under WPA’s care, he added.
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“It is a fundamental precept of the programme that the witness be protected. Without this guarantee the WPA is deficient in its primary function and would be hard pressed to justify its very existence. The apparent disappearance of a minor witness reported to be in protection pending her testifying in a case in which a police officer is charged with her rape raises serious questions as to whether the WPA has difficulty in performing its core function,” he said.
He said he believed the girl’s disappearance had the potential to undermine the entire witness protection programme.
The LSK demanded that the girl be traced and action taken against any person involved in her unexplained disappearance.
Okero said: “It (WPA) must therefore use all its array of powers to seek and recover to safety the minor witness who appears to have disappeared, to establish what happened, and to punish under the law all and any persons who are found responsible for this serious lapse in its primary function.”
Justice and Legal Affairs Committee Chairman William Cheptumo (Baringo North MP) described the disappearance as a serious threat to witnesses and called for the strengthening of the laws.
Mr Cheptumo called for a thorough investigation to establish the circumstances under which the girl disappeared, adding that such incidents risked scaring people from providing information in court cases.
The legislator said his committee was willing to push for changes in the Witness Protection Act to fix gaps exposing to danger individuals willing to share evidence.
He asked WPA to share with the committee some of the challenges they face in offering security to witnesses.
“The agency should also come forward and tell Parliament areas that threaten their operations. As a committee we will facilitate them.
“The committee will be more than willing to hear from the agency, and if the laws in place don’t facilitate their operations in protecting witnesses then we will not hesitate to propose changes that can ensure witnesses are secure and able to testify against the accused persons.”
Freed on bail
Chief Justice David Maraga promised to get to the bottom of the matter once he gets back to his office from the Christmas holiday.
“I am away from Nairobi and now I cannot get my officers. You can call me next week once I get to understand what happened,” he said.
IMLU Executive Director Peter Kiama said the courts should not have allowed the accused to be freed on bail.
Mr Kiama said many victims of police mistreatment do not come out to tell their case due to the danger involved.
He claimed that the few bold ones who report the cases, leading to the prosecution of rogue officers indirectly sign their death certificates.
“There are many who have been violated by police but do not come out because of the high risk. I hope that the involved police officer is in custody. Letting the police free poses great danger to witnesses,” he said.
He added: “The Judiciary should have a consideration of not issuing bonds or bail to officers who have been brought to court over criminal offences. Dealing with them is tantamount to a death warrant. We need to take necessary precautions to safeguard anyone who is courageous enough to talk about police violations. The issue should be taken with a lot of precaution and diligence.”
