2nd May 2021
For Immediate Release:
We, the Police Reforms Working Group-Kenya (PRWG-Kenya), are alarmed and utterly dismayed by the illegal arrest, detention, and killing of Collins, a youth from Mathare in Nairobi County on 29th April 2021. This is the latest killing of a Mathare youth allegedly by a most rogue police officer known as Baraza, who operates in Mathare and Pangani areas within Nairobi County.
Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) meticulously documented Collins’ abduction in a timeline shared on Twitter. MSJC sent pleas for help to the National Police Service, the Inspector General of NPS, the Director of Criminal Investigations without recourse. MSJC made the following request on social media: –
Thursday 29th April 2021
Ø 3.38 pm, MSJC reported that Collins had been arrested by an officer known as Njoro. They explained that he (Collins) had witnessed the killing of another young man by the name of Dominic Kalema.
Ø MSJC identified a Toyota Probox Registration Number KCW 491N which is usually used by Baraza and his squad to detain and harm Mathare youth illegally.
Ø 5.41 pm, MSJC tweeted that Collins was in a Toyota Probox with the number plate KCW 491N, driven by Baraza and company, and was then parked in Pangani.
Ø 9.54 pm, Two more young men had been illegally detained in the Probox number plate KCW 491N — Kelvin Irungu and a friend. MSJC reported hearing that Collins may have been killed though they hoped for the best.
Friday 30th April 2021
Ø 1.11 am, MSJC confirmed that Collins was killed and his body taken to City Mortuary. Kevin Irungu and his friend are said to be still missing.
The Police Reforms Working Group (PRWG) has received a number of complaints against the same officer and others such as Ahmed Rashid of Pangani. We are shocked and perturbed that the duty bearers in the Ministry of Interior, the National Police Service and Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) have not taken steps to bring these officers to justice. We suspect that Baraza, Ahmed Rashid, Njoro and the other are serial killers in uniform.
According to the Missing Voices annual report, police officers killed 157 Kenyans in 2020 and forcefully disappeared 10 Kenyans in their custody. Collins is just one of the many cases of police killings that has continued unabated.
We demand swift action to end the reign of terror on Kenyan youth in Mathare and other informal settlements in Nairobi and across the country including Mombasa and Kisumu. Moreover, we demand the following:
1. The immediate arrest of Baraza, Njoro, and Ahmed Rashid for capital crimes, including abductions and executions committed against Collins and many others.
2. Public condemnation of extrajudicial killings by President Uhuru Kenyatta, CS Interior Dr. Fred Matiang’i and Inspector General of Police, Hillary Mutyambai.
3. The National Security Committee of the National Assembly to table a report outlining the action they are taking to curb the alarming rise in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
4. IPOA to institute urgent investigations to establish the whereabouts of Kevin Irungu and his friend alongside the circumstances that led to the death of Collins.
5. Police re-dedication to the rule of law where suspects of all crimes are arrested, prosecuted, and taken before courts of law. The same laws also bind police officers.
The PRWG-K wishes to remind the police and the government that the Constitution of Kenya 2010 guarantees the right to life, human dignity, security of the person, freedom from torture, rights of arrested persons, and fair trial. The security apparatus of Kenya is mandated to promote, protect, and fulfill these rights. A breach of these rights is an abdication of duty and illegality that we condemn in the strongest possible terms.
We wish to remind the State that the International Human Rights Law lays down obligations which States are bound to respect. By Kenya becoming a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other international treaties, it assumes obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect and to fulfil human rights for all Kenyans. The obligation to respect means that Kenya must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of inalienable human rights.
The Kenyan Constitution, 2010 states that every person is equal before the law and shall enjoy equal protection by the law. All persons have the right to full enjoyment of essential rights and fundamental freedoms including the right to life and more.
As we conclude we also wish to let the police and the government know that we have noted with utter consternation the continued abduction, killing and disappearance of innocent citizens only to be found tortured and murdered as happened with the Kitengela quartet. As Members of the Police Reform Working Group we reassure the country that we shall not relent in our cardinal duty of pursuing human rights violations in our constitutional court as per the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and International Human Rights law’s pronunciations on fundamental Human Rights.
This statement is signed on 2nd May 2021 by members of the Police Reforms Working Group-Kenya, an alliance of national and grassroots organisations committed to professional and rule of law policing. They include:
1.Defenders Coalition
2. Constitution and Reform Education Consortium (CRECO)
3. Amnesty International Kenya
4. HAKI Africa
5. Independent Medical-Legal Unit (IMLU)
6. International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ-Kenya)
7. International Justice Mission (IJM-K)
8. Katiba Institute
9. Kariobangi Paralegal Network
10. Kenya’s for Peace, Truth and Justice (KPTJ)
11. Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC)
12. Peace Brigades International (PBI)
13. Shield For Justice (SJF)
14. Social Welfare Development Program (SOWED)
15. The Kenyan Section of International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya)
16. Transparency International Kenya (TI-Kenya)
17. Usalama Reforms Forum
18. Wangu Kanja Foundation
19. Women Empowerment Link (WEL)
20. Social Justice Centres Working Group
21. Mathare Social Justice Centre