Amnesty International has called out the State and police for human rights violations including right to peaceful assembly, unlawful killings, increased taxes among others violations.

According to Amnesty’s report dubbed “The state of the World’s Human Rights 2024” released annually, radical taxation reforms and rising cost of living threatened Kenyans’ ability to sustain themselves, right to food was threatened by the prolonged drought experienced in 2023 while their right to privacy was violated after they unwillingly sold their private information to WorldCoin company.

Report shows there were 136 extrajudicial killings with most of the victims dying while in custody or within the precints of police stations.

And despite that high number, only 28 cases which include past cases were fully investigated and prosecuted.

Extrajudicial killings

“There was insignificant progress towards holding police officers accountable for extrajudicial killings, including in the case of at least 37 bodies found in Yala River, and other bodies found elsewhere, in 2022,” the report.

Amnesty called out the government for failing to implement the National Coroners Service Act, which would have established a special office of the Coroner General who would then coordinate investigations into unexplained killings.

Report further shows that despite receiving several notifications for protests, police refused to acknowledge these notifications, termed the planned demonstrations illegal and further used excessive force to disrupt and prevent demonstrations which were held to protest high cost of living and also the alleged 2022 electoral irregularities.

Amnesty says 57 people were killed during the demonstrations, and for the 30 of them which the organisation verified, there was evidence that the deaths were as a result of live bullets, blunt force trauma and smoke inhalation from tear gas.

Report further accuses the government for failing to timely investigate reports of abuses by the Good News International Ministries, a church led by Pastor Paul Mackenzie with the inefficiency leading to deaths of more than 400 people including children and women.

Report indicates that timely investigation would have prevented mass deaths of people whose bodies were discovered buried in a mass grave having been starved to death or strangled.

Further, the report shows the human rights of the LGBTQ community was threatened after a sitting MP proposed a bill that would have further criminalised the key population’s activities.

A judgement by the Supreme court affirming the community’s freedom to associate and further directing the Non-governmental organization coordination board to register their associations without discrimination sparked major backlash from Kenyans with demonstrations over the same being held in various parts of the country.

Excessive taxation

The government is also accused of violating the economic and social rights of Kenyans by applying excessive taxation on Kenyans, thereby making it impossible for them to sustain themselves.

In 2023, the government through the parliament passed the Finance Act of 2023, which introduced new taxes and increased the cost of health insurance and pension contributions for salaried employees. It also introduced a housing levy and imposed a value-added tax on certain goods, doubling the price of fuel and essential commodities. This took a toll on Kenyans whose salaries remained the same despite the new tax cuts to their pay cheques.