Human Rights Organization Haki Yetu wants accountability for police killings during the anti-Finance Bill protests.
Speaking during a media breakfast meeting in Mombasa, Haki Yetu CEO Peter Kiama called for expedited accountability for police killings, arbitrary arrests, and abductions across the country.
“We strongly condemn police abuse of power during these protests as demonstrated by over 30 persons killed by the police, three in Mombasa, and hundreds wounded by police violence,” said Kiama.
Kiama said the behavior witnessed by the police in the last two weeks was akin to a police state.
“We do challenge the president, who has told us that there has been no extrajudicial execution under his command. We have seen so many instances of these kinds of cases, the numbers are there, so let the president stop lying to the nation,” said the Haki Yetu CEO.
The Organization has also called for the president to publicly acknowledge and apologize for the atrocities carried out by police.
“We also demand accountability for all these police atrocities both at the operational level for individual officers but also for command responsibility for these kids,” said Kiama.
According to Kiama, the multistakeholder forum proposed by the president was unnecessary.
“We’ve had the BBI and now we have NADCO with no results at all. We believe that the proposed multistakeholder forum will be further wastage of scarce public resources and a process that will undermine public institutions that are mandated to address these grievances,” he said.
