Don’t side with police who abuse authority
By Editorial.Team, August 10, 2023Defending the police even when they are wrong only gives them a false sense of immunity, and encourages them to further violate human rights.
Interior Cabinet Secretary, Interior Principal Secretary and the Inspector General of Police get high quality incidental data that is accurate, complete and timely for ease of analysis.
The holders of such offices clearly know how many Kenyans were killed or injured as a result of police action during the anti-government demonstrations.
Even if they did not, reports by human rights organisations, members of the public and political leaders should have prompted them to find out the truth behind such reports.
Interestingly, the Office of the President, Interior Ministry and the police have not spoken about the issue and have only praised the officers for the good work done.
This is likely to result in an increase in human right abuses and lack of trust in the service.
In what appears to be dancing on the graves of the dead, IG Japhet Koome, on Tuesday, while at the National Police College Kiganjo further revealed that some senior members of the society were going to mortuaries to hire dead bodies and drop them on the streets so that NPS is blamed.
To the IG, no Kenyan was injured or killed during the demos and his only concern is the officers who were attacked. All lives matter.
On July 26, PS Omollo urged the media to refrain from sensationalised coverage that only perpetuates fear. According to him, the media was blowing things out of proportion.
While he took issue with the persistent abuse of the right to demonstrate and picket, he also never mentioned about the killed or injured Kenyans nor condemned excessive use of force during such demonstrations.
There was no mention of other members of the public killed by the officers. Instead, the ministry insinuated that the shootings could have been by some armed members of the public.
From media records and eye witness accounts of family, relatives and members of the public, people were indeed shot dead during the demonstrations and its therefore incumbent upon the government to undertake thorough investigations to establish the truth and those culpable brought to book.