National Police Service (NPS) Spokesperson Charles Owino on Wednesday, June 10, came out in defence of his boss Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai and other police officers who have been castigated over alleged extra-judicial killings.
"We have lately had cases where Police officers have been killed by civilians using machetes. The latest case being the killing of a 29-year-old police officer by civilians in Lamu yesterday. The officer was attacked without provoking or even attempting to arrest anyone.
"To our surprise, no civil society has condemned this unfortunate incident as if it is a normal incident for a police officer to be killed. Such actions widen conflict between police and criminals and promote panic among police while using their firearms in the course of duty," he stated.
The latest statement by the NPS comes after IG Mutyambai was called out for his silence over the recent protests over killings that have been attributed to police brutality.
"It is not in the nature of the IG to shout. He is organised and does his work quietly. He is working tirelessly to promote good working relations between the members of the Public
"A number of police officers have been relieved of their duty and arraigned before court after internal disciplinary mechanism," Owino asserted.
Owino, who serves as the director in charge of Corporate Communication Affairs and Human Rights in the police service, maintained that IG Mutyambai was working closely with CS Interior Fred Matiang'i to ensure that any officer found guilty would face the full force of the law.
He went on to decry the double standards stagged by human rights groups in the event police officers are killed by civilians.
When Kenya enacted restrictive policies to curb the spread of coronavirus, activists sounded the alarm about deadly policing. According to Kenya’s Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), more than 15 people were killed by police during the coronavirus curfew — including children. Community organizers say that number could be much higher.
A crowd Mathare residents peacefully marched through the slum in Nairobi on Monday, June 8, to protest against police brutality and an increase in extrajudicial killings in the Kenyan capital.
The march was organised by three grassroots organisations from the area in response to a rise in the number of police killings since a dusk-till-dawn curfew was enforced in March to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.
