MPs call for commission of inquiry to probe extra-judicial killings
By Mercy.Mwai, March 9, 2023
Members of the National Assembly yesterday called for the formation of a commission of inquiry to investigate extra judicial killings.
The lawmakers also backed a petition by Kituo cha Sheria that calls for the enactment of a legislation to criminalise extra-judicial killing and enforced disappearances.
The MPs who raised concerns over the increase in cases of missing persons and extra judicial Killings between 2017 and 2022, said majority of those who disappeared are yet to be traced.
The lawmakers while expressing their disappointment with the police whom they claimed are the biggest perpetrators of the vice, said that a only commission of inquiry will be in a position to give tangible answers to families who have lost loved ones even as they await for justice to take place.
The MPs made the remarks while contributing their views on a petition presented to the House by speaker Moses Wetangula from Kituo Cha Sheria Executive Director Annette Mbogo.
In the petition, Mbogo appealed to the lawmakers to enact laws that would expressly criminalise forced disappearances and prescribe penalties for the said crime.
“Efforts to have a judicial inquiry formed to investigate this cases have not been fruitful. It is in this regard we are asking the National Assembly to enact laws that will expressly criminalize that will prescribe penalties for the crime of enforced disappearance,” reads the petition.
She revealed that her organisation had worked closely with the victims of extra Judicial killings and disappearances in the country since 2007 and has so far documented a total of 1201 killings and 272 enforced disappearances with most of the cases having occurred in the hands of the police and other security agencies.
Further she claimed that in 2021 Kenyans reported 43 cases of disappearances of persons that were in police custody adding that the most affected areas are northern and Coast region.
“The petition highlighted Kilifi and Coast regions as being hotpots for such incidents to counter terrorism operations and sites other instances including the retrieval of at least 20 dead bodies from River Yala,” adds the petition.
And speaking to back the petition, the lawmakers from both sides of the political sides Led by leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wa and his minority counterpart Opiyo Wandayi, narrated stories of how their constituents have lost loved ones due to extra Judicial Killings.
Ichung’wa who called for the formation of a commission of inquiry, said that those who oversaw the disappearance of Kenya be it the former Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) George Kinoti, former interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi should be brought to book.