The Independent Policing Oversight Authority has launched investigations into the death of a man during protests in Githurai, Kahawa area, Kiambu County on Wednesday.
Ipoa chairperson Anne Makori said the authority received a report of the death as police allegedly responded to contain a demonstration over demolished roadside structures.
The investigation will seek to determine whether the death falls into the authority’s mandate of holding the police accountable and whether the deceased succumbed to the injuries allegedly caused by officers.
She said team officers have been dispatched to the area to observe how the police conducted the management of the demonstration.
“Upon conclusion, if culpability will be found, Ipoa will make appropriate recommendations to the relevant state agencies and also appraise the public on its findings,” Makori said.
However, protesters said two people were killed - a boda boda and tuk-tuk rider.
Residents who owned structures on the side of a road leading to Kamiti prisons from the Farmers Choice area woke up to find them flattened by authorities.
The area is usually congested with pedestrians and vehicles.
This prompted them to stage a protest, saying they had not been notified and had lost property worth millions of shillings.
Police said the demonstrators had blocked roads, inconveniencing many and some were taking advantage of the situation to loot, causing them to shoot.
Separately, the authority has also asked witnesses who might have witnessed the incident where a man is alleged to have been fatally assaulted by the cops who were enforcing a curfew in Kayole, Nairobi last week to contact the authority.
