Kenya has been placed among most notorious countries that violate human rights. This is according to Amnesty International, a global human rights watch group.
In a report released on Wednesday, March 30 dubbed ‘The State of the World’s Human Rights’, Kenya was cited as a nation marred by police brutality, forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
The Amnesty International report 2021/2022 noted that the year 2021 for Kenya was an incubator for greater inequality and instability instead of being a healing and recuperation year.
“Police used excessive and sometimes lethal force to break up protests, they unlawfully killed 167 people, including some of those arrested for violating Covid-19 restrictions and forcibly disappeared 33 people,” read a section of the report.
It further stated that from the 167 killings, only 28 prosecutions were initiated against the suspected perpetrators.
Further, the report notes that the police also violated the rights of protesters who were demonstrating against police brutality.
“Alex Macharia Wanjiku was shot in Kahawa West, an informal settlement in Nairobi County, while police dispersed a demonstration against the Nairobi Metropolitan Services,” the report noted, adding that investigations of the incident by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), were not completed by the end of the year.
The report also states that there was an increase in cases of gender-based violence primarily against women and girls as well as government evictions during the pandemic.
Kenya was also accused of gagging media and failing to uphold the right to freedom of expression.
Human rights activist Edwin Mutemi wa Kiama, was arrested on April 6, 2021 for raising governance issues on social media.
Kiama, who criticized government borrowing on Twitter, was later released on a bail of Ksh500,000.
The report also highlights the murder of a foreign environmental activist who was discovered dead a few meters from her home after protesting against deforestation in Kiambu.
“In July, 67-year-old Joannah Stutchbury, a well-known environmental activist, was shot dead at her home in Kiambu County on the outskirts of the capital, Nairobi. She had received death threats apparently linked to campaigns against the construction of buildings in the Kiambu Forest.”
Despite President Uhuru Kenyatta calling for an investigation by the DCI, no suspects were arrested or prosecuted.
