You are better off with a bunch of thieves than in the supposed protection of the Kenyan security hoodlums. It is either they are inept, poorly trained, drugged or are operating under some dictum to kill as many Kenyans as possible to make a tame population of us. Otherwise what can explain the wanton killings of innocent civilians, day in day out, in the name of fighting crime?
The killing of seven innocent taxi drivers the other day in Kawangware is just another episode in the endless tragedy of executions of civilians by the Kenyan security apparatus. Before you are hoodwinked by the government spin, the ‘dangerous criminals’ were honest Kenyans eking out a living as taxi operators. They happened to have called a meeting in the course of their beat at night to discuss squabbles with their business rivals; the motorcycle taxi operators. Owing to the bad blood with the later stemming from business competition, the motorcycle operators alerted the police that the taxi operators were thieves planning a robbery.
Without any investigation, the administration police rushed to the scene and sprayed them with bullets. The taxi operators did not fire back as they were unarmed. The trigger happy coppers finished their mission of butchering them within no time. When the guns went silent, seven men, bread winners of some seven poor families, lay dead. No weapon was found on them.
I wonder who gave the Kenyan Police the carte blanche to shoot and kill. Every week passes with so many extra-judicial killings. Criminals have got rights too. It is the duty of the state to protect lives, including those of thieves. They ought to be arrested, charged and corrected. Not to be killed.
The Kenyan police have tried to justify their bribe taking culture by citing poor pay. Could they be hit men for hire to supplement their poor pay too? The Kawangware killings points strongly to this. It is suspect how they acted so fast. When the Kenyan police are not conniving with criminals to rob civilians, they are colluding with rival gangs to finish their rivals.
The Kenyan Police system is exploiting the fact that Kenyans hate criminals and would not care much how they are dealt with. Wait till you lose a loved one whom you can vouch for his innocence with your life. That is the time you will know that most of the people who are felled by police bullets in the name of fighting crime are just innocent souls.
Sometimes, I agree, it is a case of real thugs. I am not a policing expert but it is better to have a live criminal than a dead one. Arrested criminals provide crucial intelligence. That is when police is dedicated to rooting out crime in the long term. You can easily nap remaining criminals and bust crime cells from the information gleaned from a captured criminal. But our cowardly mob otherwise called police shoots them on sight even when they are not posing any danger to their lives.
Another pointer to the incompetence of the Kenyan police is the ever rising cases of innocent deaths from stray bullets. Who should teach them how to handle weapons? I use to think they get some training. Now I doubt. Every so often a life is snuffed by a stray bullet from a police officer. Nobody cares to bring them to justice because they are law unto themselves. They are the investigators and prosecutors themselves. No wonder not a single police officer has faced justice for the legion of killings that bedevil this country.
After every demonstration, the police whip out their guns and fire at demonstrators. Is their curriculum devout of crowd management? Why all the high handedness when dealing with a crowd of people simply expressing themselves with bare hands. The paradox is, most demonstrations in this country are about the police. Either the public are demonstrating against police killings or insecurity. And the best response from our beloved police force is to kill and maim.
I heard from the police that they have opened an inquest to the Kawangware killings. An inquest? My foot! How can the police investigate itself? It is a travesty of justice at best. Many inquests have been opened in this country and yet none has been concluded. What about the mass executions by the police? So many people are secretly killed by the police and taken to the game parks to be eaten by wild animals without a trace. Who will open an inquest for them yet the police deny involvement in their disappearances?
Oscar Foundation reported 8040 Mungiki members killed by the police in 2007 and 4070 disappearances. How far are they with these inquests? As an acknowledgement of the report, they went ahead and killed Oscar himself, the organization founder, in broad daylight. How far is his inquest?
The killing is an endless vicious cycle.
The UN investigator, Prof Philip Alston told the government to end police impunity. He adduced to the existence of police death squads. The government was quick to invoke its sovereignty clause.
The US Human Rights Reports, released just two days ago, raised a lot of concern on police killings in Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia. The government will just keep mum or reiterate that we are a sovereign state and therefore our police have the right to eliminate us whenever they deem fit.
The collective silence from the Kenyan public is too deafening but I doubt whether any will keep quiet when a police bullet rob one of his/her loved one. It is better to demand action from this government now. If the police killers are brought to book, they will be deterred from using us for target practice.
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