15 people have been killed and 31 others injured by the law enforcement authorities since Kenya enforced security measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) says they have received about 87 complaints since the end of March which include harassment, assaults that result in injury, death, shooting, sexual assault, and inhuman treatment and are under investigation.
”After preliminary investigations, 15 deaths and 31 incidents where victims sustained injuries have directly been linked to actions of police officers during the curfew enforcement,” IPOA chairwoman Anne Makori said in a statement.
Anne Makori said the authority has dispatched Rapid Response teams to establish the circumstances that led to six other fatalities in the latest incidents across the country.
The fatalities under investigation include the latest death of a homeless man from Mathare slums who was killed on Monday for allegedly violating the curfew regulations.
Others include deaths within Katanin Village, Kabiyet Sub-County, Nandi County, a 13-year-old Yassin Hussein Moyo who was also killed on his balcony after the curfew began in Eastleigh, fatal shooting of three family members in Kwale on May 30, 2020, as well as shooting of a woman at a police roadblock in Emali on May 31, 2020.
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The Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji has already approved the arrest of the officer who killed the young boy in Eastleigh
Early in the week, hundreds of demonstrators from Mathare protested the killing of the homeless person who was allegedly killed by the police, demanding an end of police killings.
According to the law, upon conclusion of the investigations and pursuant to Section 6(a) of the Act, the Authority – IPOA will make recommendations, including prosecution if criminal culpability is established on the part of the police officer involved.
Human Rights Watch noted that the police have broken into people’s homes and shops and extorted money from locals and or looted food in various places within the country.
”It is shocking that people are losing their lives and livelihoods while supposedly being protected from infection. Police brutality isn’t just unlawful; it is also counterproductive in fighting the spread of the virus,” said Otieno Namwaya, senior Africa researcher at the rights group.
