Community policing member shot dead in Mombasa

A community policing member was on Friday night gunned down by unknown assailants in Mlaleo in Kisauni, Mombasa County.

Zakariya Mwinyi Kalume, 39, is said to have been on his way home when he was shot.

Eyewitnesses said a Toyota Probox car with four occupants had been parked on the way near Mr Kalume’s residence for long before he was shot.

"Mwinyi was brutally murdered just ten minutes after I had left him at the Mlaleo stage. He was shot at point blank in the chest," said Hussein Mohammed, a close ally to the deceased.
He was rushed to Sayyidna Fatimah Hospital where he died as he was being attended to.

Mr Kalume is said to have been a dedicated member of the community who had lived his entire life working to combat crime and enhance a peaceful co-existence with Mlaleo residents.

CONDEMNED THE KILLING

Kisauni MP Rashid Bedzimba condemned the killing and called on the government agencies to do better in tackling runaway insecurity in the county.

"Every day we have people killed and all that is said is investigations are ongoing and nothing is forthcoming, when are going to get these perpetrators?

“We are disturbed by the number of murders in Mombasa — it started with Imams, Sheikhs and now it's the community policing members. We want these people apprehended and if the government has failed we will defend ourselves as citizens,” he said.

He said these killings would make members of the public not to share information if informers and those seen working with the government were being eliminated.

"We need the NSIS, CID and other security agents to do their work, Mombasa is becoming a danger zone and we need more officers deployed to help fight crime," Mr Bedzimba added.
It was still not clear whether Mr Kalume had any threats before but family members said a man in his position would have had friends and foes in equal measure.

"I received a call yesterday at about 8.15pm information that we had lost one of our own, a member in the community policing team.

WORRYING TREND

“It is a worrying trend as we do not know who the next in line is, but we want the government to put an end to this," said Ustadh Ali, a village elder.

He called on the government to make security in Mombasa County a greater priority and assure the residents of their safety, especially community policing members.

Muslims for Human Rights Chairman Khelef Khalifa said it was time for leaders and residents of Mombasa County to speak in one voice against increased insecurity in the region.

At the same time, Haki Africa's executive director Hussein Khalid expressed disappointment on the security situation in Mombasa.

"We are again mourning, the numbers increase by the day and it is like we are getting used to the killings. We are all living in fear and it is time we make security everybody's concern especially to those in power.”

Why is there deep silence from the government? We don't have to beg for our security and safety, it is the constitutional right of every Kenyan and we demand that the government addresses it with immediate effect," Mr Khalid said.

The late Kalume has left behind a four-year-old boy and a widow who he married six months ago after his previous wife died.