Speed up investigations into abductions and suspected police killings

A man battles with hooded police officers along Kimathi Street in Nairobi on July 16, 2024. [Denish Ochoieng, Standard]

Promulgation of the 2010 Constitution, whose 14th anniversary was marked this week, was to herald a new dawn. And while the country has made progress in some areas, it seems to have stagnated in others or even regressed.

A case in point is respect for human rights. Under the new Constitution, it was hoped that human rights abuses that put bloody blemishes on the fabric of past regimes would abate. It was hoped that Kenyans would see no more abductions, torture and killings orchestrated by the State.

Kenyans thought with the new dispensation, crackdowns like those that saw hundreds of pro-democracy advocates arrested, tortured and incarcerated during the one-party era would come to an end. It was also expected that people would be allowed to hold demonstrations without police unleashing brute force on them and that extra-judicial killings would be history.

But that has not been the case as was witnessed during the Kibaki and Uhuru regimes and now under Ruto. Cases of human rights abuses suspected to be perpetrated by security forces continue to be reported.

As Kenyans marked the 14th anniversary of the Constitution, some families were looking for their loved ones; youths snatched by persons suspected to be police officers.

It is noteworthy that some of the young people, such as Kenya School of Law student leader Joshua Okayo who was found in a state of confusion by the riverside in Murang’a after being picked in Nairobi, were active in recent anti-Finance Bill protests. Some of those released after the abduction say they were questioned on the protests.

Excessive force

According to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), 50 people were killed, 197 injured and 19 abducted during the protests although human rights activists’ figures are higher. Most deaths have been blamed on excessive use of force by police.

Notably, no one has been held to account for the deaths and the abductions. We hope IPOA is still investigating these atrocities and the perpetrators will eventually be brought to justice. Investigations should also be conducted speedily to establish the whereabouts of missing persons and their tormentors apprehended.

Police would naturally want to distance themselves from these atrocities, but going by history — they have been used by the State to torment purported dissidents — it would be hard to convince the public otherwise. The burden of proof is on them.

The long struggle for the Constitution would be in vain if Kenyans continue to complain about the same things — arbitrary State-sanctioned abductions, torture and extrajudicial killings — that they complained about prior to 2010.

Kenyans should be allowed to exercise their democratic rights without being harassed by the State. And if anyone breaks the law in the process, they should be arrested through legal means. Police must always operate within the law.