GUYO: Police brutality at critical stage, should not be masked anymore

It is in no doubt that the police have a difficult task of keeping law and order. Their challenges in dealing with violent crime is part of the job. Many a time, this has been done exceptionally well but other times it has led to greatest miscarriage of justice.

It is all good for the Minister of Interior and police spokesperson to defend the work of the officers. It is their job to do so. But it is also their role to ensure that police brutality is dealt with once and for all. It has now reached a critical level to warrant it being declared an emergency.

The evidence showing that police brutality is deeply entrenched is stacked against the security service. A fair balance now needs to be struck between saving lives and police powers.

Only recently, photos of Samwel Maina showing his swollen and bloodied face went viral on social media. He claimed to have been beaten senseless by police officers, whom he claimed first robbed him. Another video went viral showing a group of policemen surrounding a young unnamed man with one of them repeatedly squeezing their victim’s genitals.

Meanwhile, two minors and a foetus died in the hands of the police, according to the governor of Kwale County, his voice echoing the shock of the community as cries could be heard in the background. As I was working on this article, a homeless man was allegedly shot dead by police in Mathare slums, Nairobi.

A recent Ipoa report shows more than 15 people have died at the hands of the police since the curfew began, with a 13-year-old boy named Yassin Moyo among the youngest.

Some of our leaders were being hypocritical to claim to be enraged by the police killing of African-American George Floyd in the US when police brutality has been our way of life. Kenyan police are renowned for their brutality. But rarely would we hear condemnation of the same by our leaders. Their silence is a sign that they live in a rosy universe parallel with that of the rest of us.

Civil society groups and individual activists are the only voices that have tirelessly highlighted abuse of power by the police. They cannot reverse the culture alone. It is reassuring to hear the government finally waking up to the reality of impunity within the police service.

Institutional racism is blamed for the deeply entrenched abuse of power by the ‘privileged’ white police officers in the US. In the UK, police had a similar problem. The turning point was the killing of Steven Lawrence, a young black man, by a group of white men in the 1990s. Following uproar, rank and file were reformed, leading to the formation of a more diverse UK police service.

In the absence of racism, institutional impunity is, no doubt, the culture that is at the core of the Kenyan police. When is our turning point, if not with deaths of the youthful Maina and Moyo?

We cannot bring meaningful change in the police service without everyone showing anger at the deeply entrenched brutality. These are calls that need to be led by the leaders and, indeed, Parliament. But they have been eerily silent on a socially damaging matter but loud on amending the Constitution for political reasons.

I am not aware of Parliament constituting an emergency sitting to discuss extrajudicial killings by the police. Institutional changes effected in the current Constitution that led to the formation of Ipoa and NPSC are, clearly, not bearing fruit if a decade later we are still witnessing killings, torture and harassment by the police.

As non-State actors have suggested, it is time to bolster and give police oversight bodies extra powers and independence fr them to investigate cases speedily and without interference. We should support the idea of command responsibility being instituted to avoid buck-passing. It is long overdue.

The biggest challenge in our criminal justice system is the abuse of lines of power by the police. They act as the police, prosecutor and the judge by carrying on with extrajudicial killings unabated, demanding illegal ‘fines’ (read bribes) and locking up people for flimsy excuses without going through proper legal channels. As a result, they singularly frustrating the justice process.

It is no wonder that the ODPP has complained time and again about the buttressing of their work through bribes, shoddy or biased investigations. It is not the role of the police to punisha anyone. That is the greatest miscarriage of justice we passively watch.

The punishment must ‘fit’ the crime is a golden rule in criminal law. Many poor people have been killed on the flimsiest of grounds. Why not shoot corruption suspects?

Changes cannot be affected by punishing one or two rogue police officers but through a holistic approach. Political and legal solutions are required to transform the police. The culture of impunity in the police service must be unmasked and destroyed.

Ms Guyo is a legal researcher. [email protected] @kdiguyo