More uproar over brutality meted by county askaris

Uasin Gishu County askaris during a past clash with boda boda operators in Eldoret in 2017. They have been accused of brutality. [File, Standard]

A human rights organisation wants Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji to investigate growing cases of rights violation by Uasin Gishu county enforcement officers.

Centre Against Torture Executive Director Kimutai Kirui said the most affected were hawkers, small-scale traders and boda boda operators in Eldoret.

Speaking to The Standard, Kirui appealed to the DPP to order investigations into cases where traders were beaten up by people suspected to be county enforcement officers.

He claimed that cases of brutality and arbitrary arrests of traders and boda boda operators by the officers were never investigated by the police.

“It is unfortunate that the county law enforcement officers are operating under the rule of the jungle and our efforts to seek help from the police have failed,” he said.

Kimutai said that more than 100 people have been brutally attacked and injured by enforcement officers in the course of their business.

In the latest incident, Samson Kipchirchir Chumba, a boda boda operator, was brutally beaten up by the officers last weekend in an attack that left him with a fractured leg.

The attack triggered street protests by traders at Maili Tisa.

However, Governor Jackson Mandago's security advisor, Paul Ruto, dismissed the allegations against the officers as "propaganda" and told those with complaints to report them to "relevant authorities."