• The 24 killings happened during 15 different incidents.
• 13 were tortured while four others were shot dead.
Image: FILE
Police shot or tortured to death 24 people in Mathare in May, social justice activists in the constituency have said.
The 24 deaths occurred during 15 different incidents, they said.
Police say statistics are inflated and misreported by the media.
The latest reported death happened on the night of Madaraka Day when Vaite, a homeless man, was shot and killed in Mathare Area 3C. Police say thugs probably killed him.
The activists said since January, 95 people have either been killed or disappeared by security agencies.
Dandora Social Justice Centre’s Wilfred Olal said the data was collected by Missing Voices, an organisation that documents police killings and forced disappearances.
Olal said out of the 95 cases, police confirmed that 51 occurred as a result of anti-crime operations and 17 as part of the enforcement of dusk-to-dawn curfew.
“Thirteen out of the 17 were tortured to death while four others were shot dead. In May alone. We have recorded 24 deaths that happened during 15 different incidents,” Olal said.
The activists asked authorities to act to stop the deaths.
“We demand immediate investigation and prosecution of the officers involved in the murders and a public pronouncement by police Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai and Interior CS Fred Matiang’i condemning police excesses,” the activist said.
They urged President Uhuru Kenyatta to lift the curfew because it has been turned into an excuse by police to torment citizens.
While many of the cases had not been investigated, the group welcomed the probe into the case of Yasin Moyo, the 13-year-old boy who was shot while standing at their balcony in Kiamaiko on March 30.
Yasin’s father Hussein Moyo said he was relieved that an officer has been arrested in connection with the shooting and hoped for a speedy prosecution.
The group was frustrated at how the Pangani DCI was investigating the disappearance of Michael Njau, a human rights defender in Kiamaiko, his cousin Samuel Mungai and taxi driver Adan Mohammed.
Njau’s parents said since the three disappeared on March 24, the officers have not relayed any information to them.
“Our efforts to access relevant information pertaining their disappearance through these human rights groups such as the CCTV footage of the area where their vehicle went missing have been futile,” Njau’s mother Ann Nyambura said.
In Kiamaiko, activists said they have credible information that at least six people have been disappeared. Three were found murdered and their bodies mutilated. There is no trace of the other three.
“We are afraid police officers are using enforced disappearances to deal with crime suspects,” Olal said.
Police spokesperson Charles Owino said most of the officers committing such excesses were “young and erratic” and were “mesmerised by the powers they have".
He said the reports on the statistics about police abuses were inflated and misreported by the media.
“Media need to highlight the cases and the end of the investigations as well so that the police are not given a hostile coverage that sets them up against the public,” he said.
He added, “We need to support the police so that they are not discouraged. They make a lot of sacrifices.”
(edited by o. owino)