Video still: Reuters news report, July 16, 2024.
The BBC reports: “Kenya’s police chief [Inspector General] Japhet Koome has resigned [on Friday July 12], following weeks of violent protests against proposed tax hikes in which more than 40 people died. Human rights groups have accused police of shooting dozens of protestors, some of them fatally, and abducting or arbitrarily arresting hundreds more. …Mr Koome’s resignation has been welcomed by Kenyans, yet police officers who caught on film firing at protesters remain at large.”
Reuters adds: “[Some activists] have also accused police of using excessive force and abducting dozens of people as they tried to stop the protests. …The body of Denzel Omondi, a protester who disappeared during the demonstrations, was discovered last week in a quarry outside the capital Nairobi, Amnesty International said. It called for an independent investigation into his death.”
On July 16, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said that at least 50 people had been killed in the protests over the past four weeks, that 413 people have been injured, 682 have been arbitrarily detained and 59 have been abducted or are missing in connection with the protests.
Now a statement signed by the Civic Freedoms Forum and the Police Reforms Working Group-Kenya (whose members include Amnesty International Kenya, Peace Brigades International Kenya and others) have criticized the 2014 Security Laws Amendment Act that gives the President sole authority to nominate the [Inspector General/police chief] for parliamentary vetting, bypassing the National Police Service Commission.
The groups highlight: “This change continues to undermine police independence, accountability and the spirit of the constitution. It has fueled widespread and systemic police corruption, extortion, criminality, widespread human rights violations and lack of public accountability.”
They call for the competitive recruitment of the next Inspector General.
The statement further notes: “The lack of accountability and the belief that their superiors will protect them emboldens police officers to use unlawful force against protesters and members of the public. To break this cycle, superiors must be held criminally liable in line with the principle of command responsibility… It remains a matter of public concern that no single officer, as yet, has been arrested for the arbitrary arrests, abductions or unlawful killing of Kenyans in recent weeks.”
The full statement can be read at Call For Competitive Recruitment Of The Next Inspector General Of Police (July 17, 2024).
Further reading: PBI-Kenya calls for the release of activists arbitrarily detained before protest against vote on finance bill(June 25, 2024).
Published by Brent Patterson on