Families of protest victims record statements at Ipoa

IPOA Chair Ann Makori addresses the press on October 24, 2022. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

Nairobi police boss Adamson Bungei was recently summoned and recorded a statement with the Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (Ipoa).

The authority also questioned eight police commanders.

Fourteen families who lost their loved ones during the Gen Z protests that rocked the country in June and July recorded statements at Ipoa Wednesday together with some witnesses.

This comes as pressure piles on the authority to take action against rogue police officers accused of shooting dead protesters.

According to lobby groups, 60 people were killed, 66 were abducted or are missing, 1,376 were arrested and 601 were injured.

However, Ipoa says that they are probing 41 deaths.

The authority said it forwarded four files to the Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga who returned three and recommended an inquest into the death of Evans Kiratu.

Ipoa chairperson Ann Makori said the three files will be re-submitted to Ingonga before the end of the week.

The authority is also looking at enforcing command responsibility where police bosses will be prosecuted for the actions of their juniors.

“Where we cannot get those individuals, the command will be responsible for telling us who they were,” said Makori.

She said the decision was necessitated by non-cooperation by police officers.

Makori regretted that due to intimidation and fear for their lives witnesses have been hesitant to come forward to record statements and testify.

“Lately we have had the challenge of tracing these witnesses because of fear for their lives,” she said.

The Ipoa chairperson denied the existence of killer squads within the police but seemed to place blame on the Witness Protection Agency over the issue of securing the witnesses.

Families that visited Ipoa include Phoebe Akumu whose son Kevin Odhiambo was shot dead in Rongai during the demos.

“I want the government to tell me why the police officer shot dead my son,” she said.

“I expected that he would help me in life but in the end what I got was his death.”

Odhiambo who was the head boy in his school, relied on well-wishers to pay fees and his mother says that they had promised to get him a job once he clears school.

“The government should tell us whether they do not want male children in the country so that when we give birth, we dispose of them,” she says.

“All he had in his pocket was a pen and keys.”

All Joseph Mwangi wants to know is who shot dead his son Kenneth Njeru on June 25.

Njeru, 19, was among the protestors killed outside Parliament.

Mwangi told The Standard that his son was waiting for his first paycheck after securing a welding job.

“He had not lasted even a month at his job,” he said.

“His first salary is what we used to buy his coffin and transport the body from Nairobi to Kirinyaga,” he said.

He said Njeru earned Sh30,000; out of these, Sh13,000 was used to purchase a coffin and Sh15,000 transport.

Johnstone Mutisya’s son Erickson Kyalo, 25, was also shot dead outside Parliament.

Mutisya said he was not satisfied with Ipoa calls for the families to rally witnesses for their cases.

“Many young people were protesting, I was at home, where will I get the witnesses?” He posed.

He called on civil society to help them fight for justice.

Edith Wanjiku whose son Ibrahim Kamau, 19, was shot dead outside Parliament said she has no faith in the police cooperating with Ipoa.

Wanjiku believes police extracted the bullet from Kamau's body.

Charles Owino, 19, was on his way to get medicine in Kitengela, Kajiado county when he was caught up in the demos and was shot dead.

His cousin Linet Mboya said that the family is facing challenges getting a witness to testify since the bullet that killed Owino exited through the head.

Mboya called on Ipoa to ensure that the family gets justice since the body was booked at the City Mortuary as a victim of a road accident.