Probe into police mishandling of anti-femicide protesters linked to security bosses reshuffle

The mishandling of anti-femicide protesters on December 10, last year by police officers in Nairobi triggered widespread public condemnation and a directive by the Inspector General of Police to the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) to investigate alleged use of unnecessary force resulting in multiple injuries to the peaceful protesters within Nairobi CBD.

The Eastleigh Voice has learned that the unit has since completed the probe and forwarded its findings and recommendations to the IG, some of which informed the changes made at the service ranks on Thursday morning.

Notably, according to reliable sources, this formed the basis for the transfer of Adamson Bungei from the Nairobi Region to the operations office at Vigilance.

The probe established that the protest organizers who operated under the umbrella of Amnesty International, Kenya, presented a notification to former Office Commanding Central Police Station (OCS), Chief Inspector Nur on November 27, but he declined to receive the notification contrary to the Public Order Act.

Instead, the OCS referred the group verbally to Bungei's office. The move, according to the report was informed by a directive issued from the Nairobi area regional command that no OCS within Nairobi should receive any notification for public meetings, gatherings, or processions without express permission from himself.

However, undeterred, the EndFemicideKe March Coordinators led by Veronica Were, Kristen Kiiza, and Zaha Indimuli went straight to Mr Bungei's office but were not allowed to see him nor present the notification.

Instead, the group confirmed that they were later directed to see a senior officer in charge of operations who to their disappointment, turned out to be very hostile and did not give them a chance to hand over the notification.

It was due to this hostile environment that Amnesty International's country director Irungu Houghton tried to reach out to some senior police officers, including the immediate former Spokesperson, Dr Resila Onyango, but they did not get assisted.

After consulting widely, on the fateful day, Mr Irungu and his team decided to join the rest of the protesters in the peaceful demonstration that had been triggered by the revelation that 97 women had been killed in just three months.

According to the unit's findings, the demonstration kicked off peacefully as police officers under the command of Mr Bashir, the deputy Subcounty Commander, Kasarani kept watch and provided security.

However, later, a team from the Nairobi area led by Gregory Mutiso, in charge of police operations within Nairobi City county, approached unarmed Protesters and decided to disperse them by throwing teargas leading to several injuries.

Apart from throwing the teargas, the team of officers led by Mutiso arrested several protesters, including Irungu, and took them to Central police station where they were later released following the intervention of a DCI officer.

Undercover police units

The investigation further revealed that two special undercover police units with officers drawn from all over Nairobi were operating in civilian clothes in Nairobi at the time.

One, according to the report was comprised of nine officers and reported to the SCPC Central and the other 60 officers reporting directly to the former regional commander.

Both were found to exhibit a lot of impunity and lacked control as they were not taking instructions from either their respective SCPCs or the officers in charge of other police stations thus becoming a law unto themselves as they appeared firmly protected by senior officers.

The activities of the secret undercover team, it was observed, created a lot of disunity within the command, hence compromising security.

From the IAU investigation report, the Eastleigh Voice learnt that a recommendation was made to the Inspector General to take firm administrative action against Bungei for interfering with the duties of the sub-county and other station commanders.

This is after it was confirmed that he had issued orders that all notifications on public meetings be channelled through his office without due regard to the law.

The probe further established that no policy pronouncement existed either from the Interior Ministry or the office of the IG for regional commanders to regulate public meetings or processions.

Further, it was recommended that station commanders country-wide be allowed to oversee public order management within their areas of duty in line with the Public Order Act.

However, they must work in constant consultation with their senior police commanders.

The unit further recommended stern disciplinary action be taken against an unnamed senior police officer who negligently allowed junior officers to mishandle the peaceful protesters.

The Inspector General was also advised to disband all special undercover teams operating within Nairobi but reconstitute them with a view that they report to respective sub-county police commanders with strict adherence to the rule of law.