Who is killing these men: Is it gangs or killer police squads?

A man sits next to the scene where the body of missing Somali-American businessman Bashir Mohamed Mohamud was retrieved. His mutilated body was found at River Nyamindi in Kirinyaga on May 16 and positively identified on May 22 with two bullet wounds and machete cuts. [Mose Sammy, Standard]

Who is killing these men? A spate of killings have electrified the country. The modus operandi appears to be the same. First, the victim is reported missing by distressed relatives. Then the bizarre findings come to light.

And the nightmare begins either to the scene of the bizarre find or to a mortuary to identify the disfigured and sometimes decomposing remains.

There are fears that a hit squad is involved in the extra-judicial killings, with the latest victim being businessman Mohamud Bashir Mohammed.

When the Somali-American millionaire contractor went missing, his body remained unclaimed in a morgue until it was positively identified by relatives days later.

He went missing on May 13 on his way home from Miale Lounge, Nairobi. The following day, his body was retrieved from a river in Kirinyaga County and taken to Kerugoya Level 5 Hospital mortuary, where it was marked as unknown.

Meanwhile, the family, oblivious Bashir had been killed, continued with the search for their kin. It was after nine days when they were notified of an unclaimed body lying in the mortuary.

Some relatives travelled to Kerugoya and confirmed that it was Bashir. A postmortem examination conducted the following day revealed the businessman had been tortured.

His killing came slightly over a month after the murders of four men who disappeared outside a restaurant in Kitengela only for their bodies to be found in different in parts of Murang’a County days later.

Elijah Obuong aged 30, Benjamin Amache (30), Brian Oduor (36) and 37-year-old Jack Ochieng were picked up by unknown people and bundled into two cars before being driven away on April 19, 2021.

The four arrived at Club Enkare in the afternoon, ordered drinks and had lunch. That was the last time they were seen alive. Their disappearance and subsequent killing bore some similarities with Bashir’s murder.

Just like Bashir, security agents indicated that the four men had been implicated in a series of crimes, especially motor vehicle theft in Nairobi and Mombasa.

The killings have rekindled memories of extra-judicial killings believed to have been carried out by a dreaded police squad, code-named Kwekwe, which was disbanded following public outcry.

Based on the modus operandi and traits of the latest killings, human rights crusaders fear a similar squad could have been sanctioned.

“This worrying trend can only point to two things; either the killings are being carried out by well-organised criminal gangs or police officers,” says Peter Kiama, executive director, Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU).

Irungu Houghton, executive director Amnesty International Kenya, on his part does not rule out involvement of police officers who have constantly been linked to extra-judicial killings and disappearances since 2007 when a crackdown was sustained against adherents of Mungiki sect.

“Amnesty International Kenya and the Police Reforms Working Group have documented several killings by officers who have neither been indicted nor prosecuted despite mounting evidence that they kill at will,” says Houghton.

Generalities and hearsay

Interior PS Karanja Kibicho said he would not respond to generalities and hearsay when asked to respond to the claims by the civil society.

“Kindly give specifics so that we can respond,” he requested.

Businessman Mohamud Bashir Mohamed [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

When the reporter cited deaths of the Kitengela four and Bashir, Kibicho’s curt reply was: “So how has a criminal matter become extra-judicial killing? Avoid deep sea fishing.”

Bashir’s relatives had raised the same concern when they petitioned the Interior ministry through National Assembly Committee on Administration and Security to explain the whereabouts of their relative.

“Extra-judicial killings should not be allowed in Kenya,” said Bashir’s father in-law Rashid Ali Omar after he presented the petition to the committee meeting Kibicho’s delegation, which was presenting budget estimates for Interior ministry.

Fingers are pointing at the police for being unable to stop the killer gang whose method of killing is almost same with the hallmarks being abduction, torturing, killing then disposing bodies either in open fields, rivers or forests.

Bashir’s body was retrieved from Nyamindi River. The 36-year-old businessman’s had signs of strangulation, burns on the body probably inflicted by a cigarrette lighter, trauma on the head consistent with being hit by a blunt object with some of the toenails plucked out.

Similar torture was meted out on the Kitengela four. Obuong’s body, stashed in a sack, was discovered by sand harvesters in Mukungai River, Murang’a County.

On the same day, Amache’s body, also stashed in a gunny bag, was collected by police in Kieni Forest of Gatundu North. “He had only trouders on. His neck had scars indicating that his killers had strangled him using a rope or bare hands,” a police officer said. Another body thought to be that of either Oduor or Ochieng was retrieved from Mathioya River. It was in a gunny bag tied with ropes.

At the height of the clampdown on Mungiki, an illegitimate gang, at least 300 people were reported either missing or dead, prompting Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) to carry out investigations. The pseudo-gang-cum-sect sect was linked to extortion rings and killings in Nairobi, Central and parts of Rift Valley.

The commission blamed police for killing people suspected to have links to Mungiki. In a report titled Cry of Blood, the human rights agency said it had established officers attached to the Kwekwe squad were involved in extra-judicial killings.

Some of the bodies were dumped in morgues in Nairobi, Naivasha, Nanyuki, Machakos, Nakuru, Nyeri, Karatina, Murang’a and Kerugoya.

Other bodies were abandoned in open fields with notorious locations being Ngong, Magadi, Kiserian, Kangundo, Karura Forest, Kieni Forest, Nanyuki, Suswa and Athi River.

“Extra-judicial executions and other brutal acts of extreme cruelty have been perpetrated by the police against so-called Mungiki adherents and that these acts may have been committed pursuant to official policy sanctioned by the political leadership, the Police Commissioner and top police commanders,” stated KNCHR in its findings.

While indicting police, the commission said Kwekwe squad changed its modus operandi involving use of firearms when killing to strangulation, drowning and mutilation.

Cause of death for majority of victims was either blunt trauma, strangulation, drowning and mutilation using sharp objects.

“Whatever is happening now is disturbing. The killings and enforced disappearances should not be allowed to continue. A suspect is deemed innocent until proven guilty,” notes Kiama, adding his organisation was documenting deaths suspected to be extra-judicial.

Houghton says a case by case investigation should be carried out to establish the truth. He blames Interior CS Fred Matiang’i and Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai of shielding rogue officers linked to extra-judicial killings.