We, the Police Reforms Working Group-Kenya condemn the deaths in police custody of 22 and 19-year-old siblings, Benson Njiru Ndwiga and Emanuel Marura Ndwiga after they were arrested by police officers in Kithangari Village in Embu County on 1st August 2021 – for allegedly violating curfew orders. Their bodies were discovered two days later by family members at the Embu Level 5 Hospital Morgue. 

Whereas Embu North Sub-County Police Commander, Emily Ngaruiya claims that the two died because of head injuries sustained after they ‘discreetly’ jumped out of a moving police van, our preliminary findings contradict this narrative. We, therefore, welcome the move by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to carry out independent investigations to ascertain their cause of death and whether the police narrative is indeed accurate. We ask for speedy investigations by the IPOA team. PRWG-K has also engaged an independent pathologist to witness the postmortem examination to take place later today. 

We sadly note that this is not the first death arising out of police enforcement of COVID-19 measures. Indeed a number of our members have published reports of deaths caused by police while enforcing these measures. The Independent Medico-Legal Unit, for instance, received 25 cases of extra-judicial executions and 43 cases of torture and ill-treatment as a results of enforcement of Covid-19 regulations. 

Further, we note that suspicious deaths in police custody are one of the circumstances in which the Coroner’s Office under a Coroner-General, would have been called upon to carry out an autopsy, preservation, and analysis of other evidence to ascertain the cause of death including whether they were tortured. Sadly, the National Coroners Service Act 2017 has not been operationalized since its passage in 2017. 

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, and 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. It is in this breath that we call upon the Attorney General and the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government to immediately set up the law to enhance justice and police accountability in Kenya. 

Last week, Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi found Police Officer David Rono culpable in the death of 20-year-old Nura Malicha Molu based on the investigations and evidence produced by IPOA in the inquest. The police claimed that Nura was killed in February 2015 for attacking Officer David Rono during a robbery. However, evidence showed that their testimony was inconsistent; the matter was never reported to the police station and there was no Occurrence Book (OB) entry. Additionally, crucial evidence such as the sword Nura was allegedly wielding during the robbery was never produced for analysis nor was it produced as evidence before the court, including KES 5,000 and a phone that was allegedly stolen and recovered from Nura. The Court noted that the police may have been covering up for their colleagues and ordered the file to be forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions for appropriate action. 

Furthermore, the PRWG-K calls upon the Inspector General of the NPS to enforce the Sixth Schedule of the National Police Service Act which requires police officers to provide medical assistance when serious injury results from the use of force; and obligates officers to report to superiors and IPOA when death and serious injury results from their actions. The law makes failure to do so a criminal offence which investigators, IPOA, ODPP and the Judiciary should begin enforcing. 

The PRWG-K reiterates that for Kenyans to be truly safe and their rights protected, police must conduct themselves in an accountable, professional and human rights compliant manner. Any officer who violates the laws that they are sworn to protect must be investigated and prosecuted. 

PRWG-K also takes this opportunity to implore on the members of the public to stay calm and desist from taking the law into their hands as we push the justice actors to speed up investigation and ensure the perpetrators are brought to book. We also call upon them to assist the police with information relevant in the investigations. 

This statement is signed on 5th August 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. Amnesty International Kenya 

2. Constitution and Reform Education Consortium (CRECO) 

3. Defenders Coalition 

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) 

Mother of the two brothers killed by police officers mourns them during her sons’ burial in Embu  #JusticeForKianjokomaBrothers

Photos Courtesy: Amnesty International Kenya