| NAIROBI, Kenya June 26 – An attempt by police officers in Nandi County to arrest a boda boda rider flouting COVID-19 regulations, by ferrying two passengers turned chaotic, leading to the killing of one person. The man, who locals said is a 40-year-old cobbler in Lessos town, was shot dead when police officers were repulsing a crowd that had surrounded them to block the arrest of the rider. Under the regulations of the Ministry of Health, boda boda riders are not supposed to carry more than one passenger to ensure compliance with the social distancing rule. And as the man lay in a pool of blood, an angry mob marched to Lessos Police Station, where they torched a residential house for the Officer in Charge of the station, as others attempted to storm the armoury and set it on fire. One rioter is said to have fallen off a flag post, when he tried to remove the flag, and died on the spot while another was shot dead when he reportedly tried to set the armoury on fire. “I have ordered the arrest of the officers involved in the shooting and we regret the loss of these lives,” said police Inspector-General Hillary Mutyambai, moments after Police Spokesman Charles Owino had issued a statement confirming the arrest of the police officer who was involved in the initial shooting. But Mutyambai later told journalists in his office that “all the officers involved in the shooting have been arrested.” He did not elaborate further, only assuring that a “thorough investigation will be carried out. He said the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, IPOA, had taken up the matter. Up to nine people are said to have sustained injuries in the chaos that lasted more than 5 hours, local police said. The case, which has been referred to the country’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), comes as Kenyan police face increasing scrutiny over alleged excessive force and unlawful killings, especially in poor neighbourhoods. A Kenyan police officer was charged on Tuesday for the murder of a 13-year-old child, who was killed in a Nairobi slum in late March while law enforcement agencies were enforcing a curfew to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. His death illustrates the chaotic and sometimes violent enforcement of a night-time curfew by Kenyan police, who have been accused of murdering more than a dozen others since the coronavirus lockdown began in late March. In April, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Kenyan police of imposing curfews “in a chaotic and violent manner, from the beginning”, sometimes whipping, beating or using tear gas to force people off the streets. |
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