KITUO CHA SHERIA WANTS IPOA TO INVESTIGATE POLICE BRUTALITY

 Police patrol streets of Kibera on August 12, 2017 where youths were protesting. Kituo Cha Sheria has said that brutal force was used by the police on unarmed protestors during recent protests and wants Ipoa to launch investigations. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By DAVID MWERE

Kituo Cha Sheria has said that brutal force used by the police on unarmed protestors across the country following the announcement of President Uhuru Kenyatta as the winner of the August 8, 2017 elections was unwarranted.

Executive Director Gertrude Angote noted that police officers used live bullets to quell the violence in Nairobi’s Mathare, Kibra and Kawangware as well as in Kisumu, Homa Bay and Siaya, among other areas that were affected.

“Kituo Cha Sheria asserts that the use of violent and unjust measures by the security agents and police is unlawful and unacceptable,” Ms Angote said.

She therefore urged the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) to investigate and hold responsible individual officers.

24 BODIES

Ms Angote noted that reports from across the affected areas document up to 24 bodies with gunshot wounds including a ten-year-old girl who was killed in Mathare and a six-month-old baby who died on Tuesday due to injuries inflicted by the police.

The victims of police brutality, according to Ms Angote, also include a young man who was shot dead in Dayo, Kisumu West.

She noted that the deceased’s mother, Milka Amigo, and area MCA, Paul Okiri, have since confirmed the death.

This is despite Nyanza Regional Coordinator Wilson Njenga and Kisumu County Police Commander Titus Yoma denying the use of force by police.

TEARGAS

“Innocent children have not been spared either by this brutality. It is disheartening to learn that police even break into homes, lobbed teargas [canisters] in residential structures so as to draw Kenyans out and torture them indiscriminately,” she said.

However, Ms Angote urged the police to restore normalcy even as she noted that there is simmering tension and fear of attacks from proscribed militia groups in parts of Nairobi and Kisumu.

“We remind all Kenyans of the national values of social justice, rule of law, democracy, human rights and non-discrimination to help us forge a united and a prosperous Kenya.”
SOURCE: NMG