• The group of 20 organisations said the move was an admission of the government's culpability and complicity in extra-judicial executions and enforced disappearances.
•Between January 2022 to September, 107 People have been killed by the police and 10 disappeared.
A group of human rights activists Wednesday commended the disbandment of a police squad that has been linked to cases of extrajudicial killings and disappearances.
But the group under the Police Reforms Working Group-Kenya (PRWG-K) made fresh demands following the move by President William Ruto and Acting Inspector General of police Noor Gabow.
The group of 20 organisations said the move was an admission of the government's culpability and complicity in extra-judicial executions and enforced disappearances.
“We highly welcome the Presidential admission and the promise to rid our policing service of the culture of impunity, criminality, arbitrary and illegal use of force and firearms. The President's decision is a strong first step in expressing the political will that has been lacking for decades.”
The Directorate of Criminal Investigation’s Special Service Unit was on October 15 disbanded in a move that saw officers there disarmed and recalled to headquarters.
The human rights agencies now want Judicial and Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry to be established to investigate extortion, abductions, kidnappings, torture, extra-judicial executions and enforced disappearances.
This will facilitate truth, justice and accountability and ‘deal with our history’ as the President promised.
Further, they want the government to issue a national apology to all families of victims and to the nation for lives lost, families broken, livelihoods lost, and communities traumatised by the lawlessness of officers of these special units.
“The government to immediately establish the Victims Reparations Fund under the Victims Protection Board to facilitate reparations for all families of victims and survivors of these state atrocities.”
They also want the government to immediately commence the process of appointing the National Coroner to facilitate independent investigations into all reportable and questionable deaths in Kenya.
“We urge the Government to ratify the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance in accordance with its constitutional and international obligations.”
“It is important for the President to extend this action across all security and policing agencies including the Kenya Forest Service, Kenya Wildlife Service and the Kenya Defence Forces and the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit,” they added.
They said since 2007 the Missing Voices Coalition (Missing Voices) has verified and documented 1,264 cases of police-linked executions and 237 cases of enforced disappearances.
Between January 2022 to September, 107 people have been killed by the police and 10 disappeared. In 2021, 219 people were killed or disappeared by police.
“Out of 219, 187 were as a result of police killings and 32 disappeared in police custody.
In 2020, 158 people were killed and 10 disappeared. In 2019, a total of 154 people were killed.
They demanded that members of the units be investigated and prosecuted for their individual and command roles in extortion, abductions, kidnappings, torture, extrajudicial executions, and enforced disappearances.
They demanded that all the recruitment and appointment to the police leadership be thoroughly vetted to ensure that no one with a record of human rights violations or criminal record is appointed to the helm of the National Police Service.
“The leadership of the National Police Service should be headed by officers with pro-reform credentials and not those who have previously abated unlawful use of force and firearms.”
They further demanded that the President makes public the report submitted by the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) that triggered the disbandment of the SSU in order to prevent the creation of units that act outside the law.
The group also asked the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) to investigate all police officers involved in such crimes. SSU was disbanded in the ongoing probe into the missing of two Indians and their driver on July 24, 2022.
On Saturday, all officers at the SSU were disarmed and recalled to DCI Headquarters for further instructions. They have been sent on leave pending the probe.
Two vehicles assigned to the unit have been linked to the disappearance of the three and are under probe.
Ruto said he gave the go-ahead for the move. He said the unit had been linked to extra-judicial killings signalling there are more changes coming.