PRWG-Kenya demands swift action to end reign terror on Kenyan youths in informal settlements

The Police Reforms Working Group-Kenya (PRWG-Kenya) are demanding swift action to end the reign of terror on Kenyan youth in Mathare and other informal settlements in Nairobi and across the country including Mombasa and Kisumu.

In a statement, the group said that they are alarmed and utterly dismayed by the illegal arrest, detention, and killing of Collins, a youth from Mathare in Nairobi County on 29th April 2021.

“This is the latest killing of a Mathare youth allegedly by a most rogue police officer known as Baraza, who operates in Mathare and Pangani areas within Nairobi County. Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) meticulously documented Collins’ abduction in a timeline shared on Twitter. MSJC sent pleas for help to the National Police Service, the Inspector General of NPS, the Director of Criminal Investigations without recourse. MSJC made the following request on social media,” read the statement.

On April 29, 2021, Mathare Social Justice Centre(MSJC) reported that Collins had been arrested by an officer known as Njoro at 3:38pm.

According to MSJC, Collins had witnessed the killing of another young man by the name of Dominic Kalema.

“MSJC identified a Toyota Probox Registration Number KCW 491N which is usually used by Baraza and his squad to detain and harm Mathare youth illegally. 5.41 pm, MSJC tweeted that Collins was in a Toyota Probox with the number plate KCW 491N, driven by Baraza and company, and was then parked in Pangani,” read the statement.

“9.54 pm, two more young men had been illegally detained in the Probox number plate  KCW 491N , Kelvin Irungu and a friend. MSJC reported hearing that Collins may have been killed though they hoped for the best.”

On April 30,2021 at 1.11 am, MSJC confirmed that Collins was killed and his body taken to City Mortuary while Kevin Irungu and his friend are said to be still missing.

PRWG said that it has received a number of complaints against the same officer and others such as Ahmed Rashid of Pangani.

“We are shocked and perturbed that the duty bearers in the Ministry of Interior, the National Police Service and Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) have not taken steps to bring these officers to justice. We suspect that Baraza, Ahmed Rashid, Njoro and the other are serial killers in uniform,” they said.

The group has come up with set of demand which include; the immediate arrest of Baraza, Njoro, and Ahmed Rashid for capital crimes, including abductions and executions committed against Collins and many others.

Public condemnation of extrajudicial killings by President Uhuru Kenyatta, CS Interior Dr. Fred Matiang’i and Inspector General of Police, Hillary Mutyambai.

“The National Security Committee of the National Assembly to table a report outlining the action they are taking to curb the alarming rise in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances. IPOA to institute urgent investigations to establish the whereabouts of Kevin Irungu and his friend alongside the circumstances that led to the death of Collins,” they demanded.

Additionally, police re-dedication to the rule of law where suspects of all crimes are arrested, prosecuted, and taken before courts of law. The same laws also bind police officers.

Further, the PRWG-K have reminded the police and the government that the Constitution of Kenya 2010 guarantees the right to life, human dignity, security of the person, freedom from torture, rights of arrested persons, and fair trial.

“The security apparatus of Kenya is mandated to promote, protect, and fulfill these rights. A breach of these rights is an abdication of duty and illegality that we condemn in the strongest possible terms,” they said.

They also reminded the State that the International Human Rights Law lays down obligations which States are bound to respect.

“By Kenya becoming a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other international treaties, it assumes obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights for all Kenyans. The obligation to respect means that Kenya must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of inalienable human rights,” they stated.

On the missing Kitengela quartet, the group informed the police and government that they have noted with utter consternation the continued abduction, killing and disappearance of innocent citizens only to be found tortured and murdered.

They reassured the country that they shall not relent in their cardinal duty of pursuing human rights violations in our constitutional court as per the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and International Human Rights law’s pronunciations on fundamental Human Rights.

According to the Missing Voices annual report, police officers killed 157 Kenyans in 2020 and forcefully disappeared 10 Kenyans in their custody.