Police behind 13 deaths during post-election demos - lobby

Officers patrol Mathare slums in Nairobi following protests after IEBC declared President Uhuru Kenyatta defeated NASA chief Raila Odinga in the general election, August 14, 2017 . /MONICAH MWANGI
Officers patrol Mathare slums in Nairobi following protests after IEBC declared President Uhuru Kenyatta defeated NASA chief Raila Odinga in the general election, August 14, 2017 . /MONICAH MWANGI

Lobbyists under the Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu movement have linked police to 13 deaths during demonstrations over the presidential election result.

They have been documenting police conduct in this period, following the right race for State House between President Uhuru Kenyatta and NASA principal Raila Odinga.

"IEBC's opaque and unaccountable management of election results has already produced deadly consequences," noted Peter Kiama, executive director of the Independent Medico-Legal Unit

(IMLU).

"In the aftermath of the announcement of election results, violence in various parts of the country resulted

in

deaths, 13 of which Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu attributes to police violence."

Kiama added

they received reports of the violent police dispersal of peaceful protests and gatherings through use of excessive force.

He said this happened in Kondele, Mathare, and Kibra (Olympic, Gatikwira and Bombululu).

"Live bullets, brutal beatings and tear gas

have been police weapons of choice," he explained.

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The executive director said three incidents of rape were reported

in Mathare slums, Nairobi, after police broke into people's houses and forced men out.

Kiama said they also have reports of

destruction of property.

"The overall picture is one of grievous

violations of the right to life, freedom of assembly and security of person and property," he said.

He cautioned that use of lethal

force should not be the default position for police in crowd

control and management.

The movement called for accounting of use and deployment of all weapons, lethal and non lethal after every security operation.

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On Thursday, civil society groups under this umbrella gave their findings on the

general election, saying it failed the 'free, fair, verifiable and credible' test.

In its preliminary findings, the observer group said results released by IEBC had numerous inconsistencies, falling shot of the constitutional threshold of the electoral process.

"The declaration of presidential election results on August 11 revealed important contradictions and massive anomalies in all the numbers released by IEBC on the official record on its website and through the chairman's formal announcement," said Njonjo Mue, a human rights lawyer and transitional justice expert said.

The group said the numbers suggested "a full audit

of the result IEBC has released and their reconciliation with authentic documents from polling stations. The amount of missing data a full week after the election calls into question whether the declaration of results could be made legitimately".

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