- The lobby warned of a possible uprising if brutality witnessed yesterday persists
- The movement has rebuked how the police handled defenseless Kenyans among them children, senior citizens, women and the sick.
Human rights defenders under the banner (Kenya Tuitakayo Movement KTM) want cabinet secretary Interior Security Fred Matiang'I and his Health counterpart Mutahi Kagwe to be responsible and step aside for the valence meted on Kenyans by police yesterday.
The lobby group has chided the two cabinet secretaries for inciting police against the public and poor strategy to implement an effective curfew devoid of bloodshed limited risks to spread Coronavirus.
‘’KTM joins the Defenders Coalition, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, the Law Society of Kenya, Mombasa Law Society, KNCHR, and the Police Reforms Working Group among others to condemn this violence,’’ the movement said in statement.
The movement has for instance took issues recent utterances by Health CS Mutahi Kagwe who termed citizens as indiscipline, terming it as well coded message that was being sent to the police system and command structure sometimes known as the “disciplined” forces to confront the “in disciplined” citizens.
‘’This is the reason the officers filmed themselves and posted gory footage on social media to hit the psyche of the masses that police exist and “by the force of bayonets, truncheons and whips” will descend on any citizen who is not obeying the curfew,’’ the lobby has said.
It said that police accountability has become a pipe dream and extra judicial executions persist, rogue officers kill suspects at point blank range and botch investigations with alarming regularity.
The movement has rebuked how the police handled defenseless Kenyans among them children, senior citizens, women and the sick were tear gassed, clubbed and bludgeoned in a manner never seen before at Likoni Ferry in Mombasa.
Kenya Tuitakayo Movement has also called out the police force for harassing journalists and other essential service providers without justification and way before the 7pm curfew started.
It has therefore demanded that the government institute an Integrated Emergency Response Mechanism in which Religious Organizations, Transport SACCOS, Public Benefit Organizations, Volunteer Community Health Workers are incorporated as Emergency Response Teams, trained and oriented to support tracing, feedback, accountability and testing.
The human rights defenders also want such teams be enlisted to support the implementation of the curfew guided by clearly published guidelines that must go beyond police discretion and make exceptions based on each context paying special attention to communities of density, rural poor, the working class and the vulnerable and homeless communities.
The lobby has warned that that if the violence as witnessed yesterday persists, the country could found itself battling two crises: an uprising that could further flare up coronavirus calamity.