The police are under pressure and it is a good thing. For years they have used extrajudicial killings as a crude policing tool and it is no longer acceptable.
Yesterday the High Court sentenced former Ruaraka OCS Nahashon Mutua to death for beating miraa trader Martin Koome to death in his station.
In Kisumu a magistrate ruled that six police officers have a case to answer over the death of Baby Pendo. And in Kilifi two policemen went on trial for shooting a boy who was helping to push a truck that was stuck in the mud.
It is a coincidence that all these cases fell one day yet it may still signify that change is in the air.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority has been criticised for failing to take action on police wrongdoing, yet it was their comprehensive dossier that led to the successful conviction of Mutua. And the judge gave the maximum sentence.
That demonstrates the potential for ensuring police accountability. The police should not be a law unto themselves, accountable to no one.
Quote of the day -
“I have often marveled at the thin line which separates
success
from failure."
Ernest Shackleton
The Anglo-Irish captain explorer was born in February 15, 1874
