Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has written to the Internal Affairs Unit of the National Police Service demanding investigations into alleged police excesses that led to the deaths and injuries of protesters.
In the letter dated July 29 and addressed to the Director of the Unit, Judy Lamet, the legislator wants the investigations conducted within three weeks and the resultant report made public.
“I have a legitimate expectation that the Internal Affairs Unit will conduct the investigations professionally and without unreasonable delay, and finalise the exercise within 21 days from the date of this letter,” he said.
Omtatah alleged that at least 64 Kenyans died during the course of the Gen Z-led anti-tax protests since June 18 due to police violence.
He said the brute force used by police against demonstrators was uncalled for since even bystanders, medical staff with branded attire and the media were not spared.
Omtatah said by dint of Section 13 of the Prevention of Torture Act, 2022, the Internal Affairs Unit is mandated to investigate police officers over the alleged excesses.
“I’m aggrieved that in spite of its all-important mandate and the deafening outcry on how the police have and continue their misconduct during the demonstrations, the Internal Affairs Unit has not investigated these police excesses,” Omtatah said.
The government has admitted countless times that some of the protesters who died during the demonstrations called to oppose the impugned Finance Bill, 2024, was as a result of police action.
The actual number of the dead has, however, remained elusive with different sides giving disputing figures.
The state-sponsored Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said on July 16 that at least 50 people died while 413 were injured.
President William Ruto on June 26 put the figure at six, then later said 24 and on Sunday during a town hall meeting with residents of Mombasa said the known number of the dead is 42.
"They should not have died, some of them in situations where the police were involved and others in situations where criminals were involved. All those situations are under investigation," Ruto said.
The President reiterated that there shall be no more extra-judicial killings under his watch and challenged anyone with a missing loved one thought to have been abducted by state agencies to come forward.
"I gave my undertakings to the country that there will be no disappearance of Kenyans. There was a time we had over 30 bodies of Kenyans in rivers, that will never happen under my watch. If there is any Kenyan who has disappeared, I want people to step forward and say so and so has disappeared, I will be very happy to deal with it."
On July 23, DPP Renson Ingonga in an update on investigations regarding the alleged shooting of protesters by police said no officer has so far been found culpable.
He said his office received files from the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) regarding only four victims of the alleged police shootings but the investigations are inconclusive as no witness has come forward to record statements.
He said among the files are two on the alleged shooting to death of Rex Masai and Evans Kiratu Karobia.
"I call upon any person with information pertaining to this case especially the witnesses who took the deceased to the Hospital and those who witnessed the shooting to come forward and record a statement with Ipoa," he said regarding Rex.
On Karobia, he said: “No person has recorded any statement regarding the incident of the deceased being assaulted. I have directed Ipoa that this matter be placed before a competent court for a public inquest."
In his letter, Omtatah laid before the Internal Affairs Unit of the NPS a number of questions he said Kenyans want answers to.
He said Kenyans have a right to know whether the alleged police excesses meted on them as they exercised their constitutionally protected rights to protest were premeditated.
“We need to know how the police operation was planned and conducted. Was there a clear command and control structure coordinating police operations during the demonstrations? Was there a central command?
"Who were the field commanders? Who were the commanders responsible for each section of the streets, and how did they account for the violence that resulted in deaths and injuries in their areas?
“Kenyans should know how armed men in civilian clothing, mostly hooded, joined the uniformed police units deployed to deal with the demonstrators. How many police officers were issued with live bullets and has the ammunition been accounted for?
“Was there a need to use live ammunition on the demonstrators? And if there was the need to do so, why were redlines, not drawn and mandatory warnings that lethal force would be used if the lines were crossed, which lines and warnings are required by law, not issued to the demonstrators before live bullets were fired?
“Since the demonstrations were heavily documented on camera by the media and private citizens, has the Internal Affairs Unit taken any actions to collect and preserve the evidence of the killings and the injuries recorded? These and many other questions are crying out for answers,” Omtatah said.