The United States has raised serious concerns over reports of arbitrary and unlawful killings by Kenyan security agents in 2024.
The US described the occurrences as part of a broader human rights deterioration in the country.
In its 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the U.S. Department of State singled out the Kenyan government and its agents for allegedly committing extrajudicial killings—particularly during the youth-led demonstrations in June and July that opposed proposed tax increases.
The report cites findings by leading human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which accused police of using excessive and unlawful force that led to protester deaths through tear gas suffocation, blunt force injuries, and live gunfire.
“The government-mandated Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) recorded 60 deaths during the protests. In September, the Interior Ministry’s Cabinet Secretary told a parliamentary committee that 42 persons lost their lives,” the report noted.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA)—a state agency tasked with investigating police misconduct—launched investigations into the force's handling of the protests.
IPOA reported that 50 people were killed and 199 others injured during the demonstrations.
IPOA also criticised the use of unconventional policing tactics, including the deployment of hooded and masked officers in civilian clothing, the concealment of name tags and rank insignia, and the use of unmarked vehicles, practices it said undermined accountability.
Although IPOA released a preliminary monitoring report in early September, the U.S. noted that by the end of the year, no official findings on its investigations had been made public.
The U.S. also highlighted concerns from civil society and rights groups, which accused the Kenyan authorities of underreporting the true scale of the killings, particularly in informal urban settlements where incidents were harder to track.
There were also allegations that medical personnel and police were pressured not to report deaths resulting from the crackdown.
“The government took steps to identify and punish officials who committed human rights abuses, but impunity was a problem at all levels of government,” the report added.
