Police on the spot over 'most wanted' list

A human rights agency is accusing the police of putting people on the list of ‘most wanted criminals’ before sufficient investigations.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said people on the list must also be given a chance to defend themselves.

Chairperson Florence Jaoko said police sometimes issued certificates of good conduct to the same people they had previously termed as ‘most dangerous’.

She said despite this the same police force would still refuse to remove them from the list.

“Putting people carelessly on the list (of most wanted criminals) exposes them to unwarranted danger,” she said.

“How can the same ‘criminals’ be allowed to obtain certificates of good conduct?” she asked.

The commission referred to three suspects who the police had earlier said were ‘most wanted’.

The men, aged between 21 and 23 years said they had surrendered to the police more than three times but were later released without any charges being levelled against them.

Joseph Maina, John Gitahi Kago and Martin Mureithi Waceke told the commission they had presented themselves to police since the time their images were published in the newspapers earlier this month.

But they were released after “a brief questioning.” The commission said their rights had been violated.

“The police should delete their names from that list because it is a danger to their lives. In any case the three haven’t been charged with any crime,” said commissioner Hassan Omar.

The commission had earlier taken them to Kilimani police station to record their statements and demanded that they spend the night there because “it wasn’t safe for them to walk out there.” However, the three were released after police took their statements.

Police are said to have arrested them in Nyeri at different times, taken their pictures and released them.

But despite the lack of charges, the three fear that either the police or the public could harm them if the names are not expunged from the list.

“We can no longer sleep in our houses, no one can give us work anymore because they don’t trust us,” said Kago.

Kago said he has been a cobbler whose workstation is less than 300 metres from the Nyeri police station and could not understand why the police could label him a criminal.

Maina who has been a carpenter, said the police had initially published his picture under a different name, only to later replace it with his name.

Mureithi denied claims that he uses his bodaboda (bicycle) to transport thugs. He too, was never charged.

Police had said that the three were “dangerous and armed.”