Piece by: GORDON OSEN

25 October 2022

• Ipoa says its investigations into the Yala River and Tana River body discoveries directly implicate police officers.

• It said it is open to detailed investigation by an independent entity such as a commission of enquiry.

Increasing brutal killings of civilians have shone the spotlight on police as government alleges their possible involvement in killings and enforced disappearances of more than 112 people.

Barely days after President William Ruto disbanded the Special Services Unit — said to be a killer squad within the DCI — the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) came to a grim conclusion.

Ipoa said the police could also been involved in the killings and dumping of bodies in the Yala and Tana rivers.

Ipoa, the official civilian police watchdog, also revealed that they are investigating enforced disappearances of more than 112 people.

The disappearance cases date from 2017 to this year, suggesting the practice could be systemic rather than an aberration.

Since 2007, civil society coalition Missing Voices has recorded 1,286 cases of extrajudicial killings and 241 enforced disappearances.

The agency spoke on a day the cops gunned down a leading Pakistani journalist, Arshad Sharif, a death that has triggered an international uproar.

“No suspected police-committed death will go without investigation. Ipoa notes the strong stand by President Ruto against extrajudicial killings. The Board is in full alignment with the government stand,” Ipoa chairperson Anne Makori told journalist on Monday.

In January this year, 25 bodies were retrieved from River Yala and the patterns of the injuries were the same. Authorities concluded the perpetrator or perpetrators was or were the same.

“Preliminary investigations point out that the nature of injuries sustained or the cause of death point to same or similar perpetrators. DNA profiling [to identify the victims] is also ongoing,” Ipoa chairperson Makori told reporters. She was flanked by the authority's board members.

Analysis of the details of the River Yala bodies show that majority of them were reported disappeared between July last year and to date.

Of the 25 bodies it examined, 12 died from head injuries, two had abdominal and chest injuries, one died from drowning, one had head and chest injuries, three succumbed to strangulation and one died of peritonitis.

Ipoa has arrived at the same conclusion about 13 bodies recovered from River Tana in September last year, linking police to their disappearance and murder.

The bodies have extensive injuries to the head, chest, and abdomen.

Most of them had heavy stones tied to them.

“In September 2021, the authority launched its own motion investigations into incidents in which 13 bodies were recovered in River Tana on diverse dates. All bodies were at an advanced state of decomposition and had torture wounds. Eleven bodies had stones tied to them," the authority told the press.

Furthermore, the body said it was monitoring and investigating police operation in which 11 lives were lost, including those of police officers in Namariat village in Turkana East, to establish how the operation was conducted.

A look at the 112 names published as disappeared, showed close to 30 were from the capital Nairobi and 14 from Mombasa.

Kwale and Nakuru follow closely at 11 and eight, respectively, while Baringo has six, Kilifi, Uasin Gishu, Lamu have five disappeared each, among other counties.

Police spokesman Bruno Shioso has maintained that most police officers are professionals who have done their jobs according to the law.

And in what could be seen as a deep-dive into the scourge, Ipoa said it welcomes creation of “any tribunal, commission or other initiatives seeking to unravel the cases".

The Star has also learnt the Law Society of Kenya asked the President in a meeting at State House on Monday that a commission of enquiry should be empaneled to investigate the extent of abuse of power by the police.

LSK president Eric Theuri told the Star that they made an ironclad case for an enquiry.

At the same time, Ipoa has raised a strong objection to investigations by the National Police Service's Internal Affairs Unit on the disbanded SSU, citing possibilities of interference.

"We are concerned that the IAU is investigating the members of the unit for the alleged atrocities committed by the [NPS] members. We are the ones who should be dealing with the matter," JM Waiganjo, a member of the Ipoa board said.

Even worse, the authority says its effort to swiftly investigate the killings by cops is hampered by refusal by the officers to cooperate with it, standing in the way of the probes.

“Ipoa continues to face challenges of non-cooperation by some members of the NPS. In view of this, the authority wishes to affirm that it will invoke the provision of Section 31 of Ipoa Act.”

To curb the non-cooperation problem going forward, chairperson Makori said the body will now consider holding the individual officers blocking the probes as well as their commanders responsible, and have actions taken against them as per law.

“In instances where the [non-cooperation challenge will be] evidenced, the authority will invoke individual or command responsibility to ensure accountability,” Makori said.

Waiganjo said oversighting the “police is not a walk in the park,” corroborating the rough drive it is to investigate the cops.

Ipoa has complained in the past that police have been refusing to submit to their probe and at some point refusing to be disarmed for the process.

In some cases, investigators from Ipoa have faced threats from the police and some commanders denied entry by Ipoa officials to stations to enable inspection and investigations.

President Ruto has promised in the recent past to institute an independent probe in the menace of police perpetrating extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.

The President’s stance has seen a reckoning within the police service culminating in the exit of former DCI George Kinoti as well as former IG Hillary Mutyambai.