Moses Kimathi was sad and angry. Two young brothers had been found murdered after they were arrested by police.
Everyone was in shock. Anger was palpable throughout Kianjokoma in Embu county.
Last Thursday, Kimathi left home to join peaceful protesters demanding an explanation from the police and justice for Emmanuel Mutura, 19, and Benson Njiru, 22.
Kimathi was not going to sit down and do nothing. The killing of young people in unclear circumstances must stop, he said, because no one knew who would be next.
The 34-year-old farmer never returned home that afternoon. He was shot in the head and died in Kianjokoma town. Police had arrived in full force to violently break up the peaceful protest.
Police response to his fatal shooting has been muted. The focus has remained on the two brothers, Njiru and Mutura, who were found dead two days after police arrested them at Kianjokoma market.
Now, human rights group Haki Africa has offered legal support to the family of Kimathi.
On Saturday, the group represented by Salima Njoki visited Kimathi’s home in Kenga village in Kianjokoma to condole with the family.
Njoki assured they will offer legal support to the family to seek justice.
“We will help the family to have a postmortem on the body of Moses Kimathi. We will also provide them with the guidance and the procedure of seeking justice in the courts of law,” she said.
Kimathi was shot dead on Thursday as demonstrations intensified in Kianjokoma and police attacked unarmed citizens.
Njiru Kiura, father of the deceased, called for justice to prevail for both families that had lost their children.
“I request the government to investigate and let us understand what really happened and those who will be found guilty prosecuted,” he said.
He also requested other human right agencies to hold hands and help the family pay for a private pathologist for the postmortem set for Wednesday this week.
The burial of the two brothers is set to take place in Kianjokoma Kithangari village, Embu North, subcounty on Friday, August 13.
Acting Embu county police commander Kimani Mitugo on Thursday said he understood someone was shot dead at Kianjokoma but could not access the area due to chaos.
He said investigations are ongoing and requested the residents and the families to calm down and allow the government to conduct extensive investigations and ensure justice is served.
This comes after Deputy Inspector General of Police Edward Mbugua on Friday ordered Eastern regional police commander John Mwivanda to transfer Embu North subcounty police commander Emily Ngaruiya and Manyatta OCS Adullahi Yaya, both accused of negligence.
Nagaruiya denied allegations that the police were responsible for the death of the two brothers, stating that a postmortem would reveal the truth. The killings sparked demonstrations for three consecutive days.
“Once a postmortem is conducted we will understand the truth but as per now what we suspect is that the two brothers died of injuries incurred after jumping off a moving police vehicle,” she said.
The postmortem conducted in presence of pathologists representing the family, government and the Independent Medico-Legal Unit among other agencies showed that the two died differently.
On Saturday, the Kenya Counsellors and Psychologists Association Embu chapter visited the family of Ndwiga Kamunyoti and Catherine Wanjiru to condole with them.
The association was represented by national secretary James Mutuku while the Embu chapter was represented by Jane Wanjiru and Mary Mugane.
“I would like to encourage people and the police to engage in talking to their colleagues who are trained in counselling to avoid involving themselves in activities which would trigger the occurrences causing loss of lives,” Mutuku said.
He also requested the government to take care of her citizens and ensure it doesn’t subject them to stressful and depressing environment, which are among the main triggers of such incidents.
Wanjiru advised that everyone needs someone to talk to and people should have courage to seek counselling, more so in these trying time of the Covid pandemic.