In a statement, more than 15 lobby groups under the auspices of Police Reforms Working Group – Kenya say authorities should work within the confines of the law/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 3 – Police have been urged to exercise restraint during the ongoing operation in pursuit of suspects behind the murder of a chief and the Officer Commanding Police Station Joseph Kinyua in Chuka, Tharaka Nithi County.
In a statement, more than 15 lobby groups under the auspices of Police Reforms Working Group – Kenya say authorities should work within the confines of the law.
They have called upon Independent Policing Oversight Authority and the National Police Service Internal Affairs Unit to initiate a probe into the killing of one person on the fateful night the OCS was hacked to death.
“In as much we as support the deployment, we tend to differ with the view of the Eastern Regional Commander Eunice Kihiko who purported to throw a blanket condemnation on the whole community rather than individual accountability,” reads the statement.
“Her words might be misconstrued to mean a greenlight for the security personnel to use unnecessary and excessive force on the locals.”
The organisations, among them the Independent Medico-Legal Unit have further urged residents of the affected area to cooperate with police and offer any necessary information.
Already, five suspects linked to the two incidents are in custody after an Embu court allowed police to hold them longer pending investigations.
On Thursday, a contingent of the dreaded General Service Unit officers were combing Kamaindi village, where the incident occurred.
Some locals have already fled from their homes fearing of being victimized or mishandled by the officers.
OCS Kinyua was hacked several times on the head, just outside the main suspect’s butchery.
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