IPOA says 65 people killed during June-July protests, blames police for excessive force

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) now says 65 people were killed during this year’s June and July protests.

IPOA has also faulted the National Police Service (NPS) that they treated the protests like riots and used disproportionate force in handling them.

IPOA’s report comes as one family from Bungoma County faulted the authority over what they termed slow pace of investigations, delaying their kin's send-off.

The family is set to bury their son, a final-year student at Thika Technical Training Institute who was shot during the June 25th Gen-Z anniversary protests.

Nearly a month after he was shot during protests to mark the one-year anniversary of the anti-government protests of 2024, family, friends and colleagues of the late Victor Otieno collected his remains for the journey home for burial.

The late Victor was shot in Juja, but it has been a long agonizing wait for his family to get clearance for his burial. They blame IPOA for the slow turning of the wheels of justice.

“We went to IPOA and gave our statements. From there, they told me they’d need me again. They said they are still gathering evidence, which means police have yet to submit a report,” said Patrick Oduor, Victor’s father.

“We have not yet gotten the post-mortem report from the police because they are telling us that IPOA has not approved it. They are taking us in circles.”

That autopsy report indicated that the late died from a single gunshot to the head. The autopsy is one of 61 that IPOA, in a report it released on Thursday, says it has attended from the deaths that occurred in four protests from June to July this year.

The report also indicates that from those protests, beginning with the one held to demand accountability over the murder of teacher Albert Ojwang while in police custody to the June 25th anniversary and the Saba Saba ones, 65 lives were lost.

According to the oversight body, one person was killed during the Albert Ojwang death protests, 23 lost their lives during the June 25th anti-Finance Bill commemorative protests, while the bulk of the deaths happened during the Saba Saba protests where 41 deaths have been reported so far. The deaths are spread across 18 counties.

The IPOA deaths tally mirrors the numbers issued by the Interior ministry but contrasts those figures given by the KNCHR, another State outfit that puts the fatalities from Saba Saba at just over 60.

The IPOA report faults the police for not following the law by deploying uniformed and non-uniformed officers who failed to display name tags or service ranks during the Albert Ojwang murder protests.

It also finds fault with the police for treating the constitutionally allowed protests as riots and handling them as such.

IPOA says the police were unprofessional, used disproportionate force on protesters and failed to uphold public safety and order, especially during the June 25th protests.

The police also stand accused of not intervening in counter-protests that seemed to support the government, concealing vehicle number plates, while commanders are cited for having hidden their rank insignia and name tags during the protests.

IPOA now wants the Inspector General of Police to, among other things, ensure that the police respect and protect the right to peaceful protests, ensure all police officers and assets are properly marked during protests, and to employ the use of full-body cameras by officers during protests to secure evidence-based prosecution of those found to have misused force in handling protesters.