Willie Kimani was there for the downtrodden

What you need to know:

  • IJM aims to bridge the gap faced by four billion people who live outside the protection of the law, and most governments praise them for this.
  • IPOA represents the need for civilian oversight over the work of the police force.
  • The only defense the mwananchi has against police abuse was captured by legal drafters in the establishment of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).

Ignorance and impunity got married and drunk in broad daylight last week. It happened in the midst of town, in the senseless heads of the assassins of Willie Kimani, Josephat Mwenda and Joseph Muiruri.

The impunity that protects our daily petty and grand corruption, and the ignorance that assails many of our poorly trained Administration Police officers made them think they could get away with it. 

It was a desperate move, full of ignorance, misconceived impunity, lack of experience and despair.

In the old days, those Judases would have killed themselves. Behold, they got drunk with impunity and childish thoughts of what only a fool would consider the easy way out: to kill the lawyer.

It is evident that Willy Kimani’s assassins either had a miserable intellectual coefficient or were under the effect of drugs, or perhaps both.

Their act breaks a sort of unspoken rule. An assassin would never kill a lawyer, much less a lawyer who is involved in his or her case, whether for or against.

It's like a cancer patient killing a doctor, or much worse, one of the doctors in his or her medical team. It is like killing your only hope.

In everyday jargon, we speak of “my lawyer" and "his lawyer”, but really they are both mine and theirs. Anything I say or do to my lawyer or the other party’s lawyer has the power to change the course of a court case or the course of destiny, as it is doing in this instance.

It makes the case even worse to know that the International Justice Mission (IJM) works hand in hand with governments and security forces to help end violence and bring about justice.

IJM aims to bridge the gap faced by four billion people who live outside the protection of the law worldwide, and most governments praise them for this.

The International Justice Mission in Kenya has done a great deal of work on police reforms, humanising prisons, revising unclear or unfinished criminal cases and advocacy for fairness and justice for police officers themselves. I could go on.

The IJM has a good rapport with the authorities, and the security forces have often praised them for their valuable help in bringing about accountability and helping reduce the widespread abuse of power. It is currently described as the world's largest anti-slavery organisation.

OLD COLONIAL LAW

Just fifteen months ago, the IJM was at the helm of a landmark case in Kenya. It acted for several prisoners who had been held in jail for almost two years, under section 43 - 61A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Justice Mumbi Ngugi analysed the facts of what happened to the petitioners, the historical background of the enactment of the peace bond provisions (sections 43-61A) during the colonial period in Kenya, the Constitution of Kenya and the statute itself.

The Judge found that the provisions in question had been legislated between 1957-1959, the period for agitation for Kenya’s independence. This was a colonial period characterised by breaches of human rights, and a dark period for Kenya.

Judge Ngugi found sections 43-61A to be a criminal rather than an inquisitorial process, since the judge had power to incarcerate suspects both before and even after the trial.

The judge also found that the police had an unfettered and arbitrary discretion to determine who a suspect is under the law, a power that made it a real possibility that they could cause incarceration to citizens based on height, weight, race or social status.

It was, in Judge Ngugi's words, the worst form of profiling. To make it worse, ‘poverty’ was the common denominator to all these cases.

The judge declared Section 43-61A of the Criminal Procedure Code to be unconstitutional and directed that each party should bear their own costs. The decision was served upon the National Police Service Commission and all Magistrate's Courts countrywide.

These brutal murders were also committed at the worst possible moment. IJM had invited many of their Kenyan friends, from government, security services, scholars, civil society and religious leaders, and friends to come together for a justice prayer gathering on July 7, 2016.

ANYONE GIVEN LOVE

International Justice Mission (IJM) is an international, non-governmental tax-exempt non-profit organisation focused on human rights, laws and law enforcement.

They focus on the crimes of sex trafficking, forced labour and slavery, illegal property grabbing, police abuse of power, child sexual assault, and citizenship rights abuse. According to Cathy Gandel, in 2010, the U.S. News & World Report named IJM one of the top ten service groups making a difference in the world.

Willie, Josephat and Joseph are no more. Death is such a profound event that no one can remain indifferent to it. It jolts one’s consciousness to the eventuality that awaits us. Death is, however, more painful where it could have been avoided, where the Reaper is summoned unofficially and unprepared.

It is most painful when it is inflicted by another human being who is fully aware of his or her beastly act. In law, we call that beastly act murder.

Marcus Tulius Cicero, that great Roman lawyer I quoted last week, stated that “the life of the dead is placed on the memories of the living. The love you gave in life keeps people alive beyond their time. Anyone who was given love will always live on in another's heart.”

My deepest condolences go to the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased persons.

If the allegations regarding Willie Kimani and his deceased companions are true, then certainly, this would not be the first case of an extrajudicial killing.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission has documented hundreds of such cases. Between January and October of 2014, a reported 313 extrajudicial killings were committed, which is a likely underestimation owing to the gross underreporting of these cases.

INVESTIGATE KILLINGS

Al-Jazeera shot a controversial documentary on extrajudicial killings in Kenya. The Human Rights Watch report of January 1, 2015 made the following claim: “Kenyan police have been implicated in hundreds of extrajudicial killings over the past six years, but police have frequently failed to make a report to the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), a civilian oversight authority, a legal requirement that facilitates investigations.”

Few prosecutions have resulted from the investigations into extrajudicial killings. Even fewer convictions have seen the light of day.

This may be explained by the reluctance of victims to shoot themselves in the foot, because it is very difficult to carry out proper criminal investigations where those suspected of involvement exercise authority.

Residents of the localities most affected are left between a rock and a hard place; they may choose not to inform on the errant officers for fear of reprisals, yet they are likely to be victims of the same officers in future.

The only defense the mwananchi has against police abuse was captured by legal drafters in the establishment of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA).

IPOA represents the need for civilian oversight over the work of the police force. On their website, you can find the accountability statement released following the investigation of the death of Emily Naliaka of Bungoma County, who died from injuries sustained during a beating by a Police Constable.

The accountability report was forwarded to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) who directed that the police officer be charged with murder.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has already commenced investigations into the deaths of Willie Kimani and his colleagues. IPOA must also step up once again, before the trail grows cold.

They must go deep into these murders and exercise their mandate to rekindle the hope in the law enforcement agencies.

In the end, the ball goes back to the Judiciary and the Director of Public Prosecutions. To stop extra-judicial killings means putting an end to impunity, both inside and outside government.  #IamWillieKimani. Je suis IJM.

Dr Franceschi is the dean of Strathmore Law School. [email protected], Twitter: @lgfranceschi