There has been heightened police brutality in Kenya during a 19:00 - 05:00 curfew, which the state imposed on 27th March 2020, in its response to the Covid 19 pandemic.
This is a record of victim voices and eyewitness accounts of the violence in the counties documented by IFA field teams. It includes cases of killings, violence, sexual harassment and extortion. IFA works to help those affected report abuses to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, IPOA.
19th June 2020
Josephine Nyabate is flushed out of her house in Riomweri Village, Kisii at 3 am by Police Officers from Birongo Police Post, in the name of conducting an illicit brew raid. When they do not find anything, they take her to Birongo Police Post 5kms away. Josephine is detained at the station the whole day without food or water and is released the next day after having to bribe the officers with Ksh. 15,000.
5th June 2020
Anne lives in Kijijini Mtwapa, Mombasa County. On her way home from work at 7 pm, she’s verbally harassed, struck on the face and tackled to the ground by a police officer. Anne pleads for mercy, but the law enforcer doesn’t hear her cry and continues hitting her repeatedly. She is now nursing her wounds and also suffers from trauma.
2nd June 2020
A few minutes past 7 pm, and Rashid a Boda Boda rider drops his passenger home in Mombasa. On his way back he encounters a Mtwapa Police Base Land Cruiser on patrol. He gives it way, but one officer hits him with a baton while the car is still in motion. Rashid loses control and hits the ground, bruising his left hand and several parts of his body. He doesn’t report the incident because he knows the same police who attacked him are the same people he would be complaining to.
31st May 2020
22-year-old Abdinasir Tarole, is assaulted by a Police Officer from Merti Police Station while waiting for his Aunt and Cousin to close shop. A police vehicle pulls over and one officer known to him as Boniface Chacha alights and grabs him by his collar; asking what time it is. Tarole says its 6:39 pm. The officer pulls Tarole away from the shop telling him they were looking for young people like him. The officer hits him with the butt of his gun. Tarole falls to the ground, while the officer runs back to the vehicle and speeds off. Tarole is later taken to Merti Sub County Hospital, and he is referred to Isiolo Teaching and Referral Hospital the following day, nursing a fractured leg. The IFA Isiolo Team documents his story and helps him record his case with the IPOA Office in Meru. He is later allowed to fill out...
31st May 2020
Mohamednoor Boru is assaulted by a police officer at Merti Centre in Isiolo Town, while standing outside a shop with his friends at 6:30 pm. A police officer Boniface Chacha from Merti Police Station grabs him by his collar and throws him to the ground. The officer then drags him to a waiting police vehicle. Inside the vehicle, another police officer stomps on him and upon reaching Merti Police Station, he is locked in a cell without being booked in the Occurrence Book. Boru is released the next day without any charges. He reports the matter to the same station but no action is taken against the officer. Boru has now reported the incident to the IPOA Office in Meru.
28th May 2020
Charles Mwende is forced to spend the night out in the cold at Kianjai Police Post with his wife's coffin. Together with his friends and family, Mwenda was permitted to travel from Malindi in Kilifi County to Meru County to have his wife’s burial on 28th May. Upon reaching Meru, Police at the Keeria roadblock force the bus to turn around and make the mourners go back to Malindi except for Mwende and the coffin, whom they abandon at Kianjai Police Post. Mwende has to sleep outside in the rain and cold while shielding the coffin under a stationary lorry. He proceeds to bury his wife the next day, with the police giving no explanation for their inhumane action
21st May 2020
61-year-old Alice Nduta is a street vendor who works in Majengo, Nyeri County. Police officers begin their patrol at 6:30 pm and attack her while she’s selling vegetables. Using whips and batons, they chase her and other vendors away. As Alice is running away, she falls into a ditch breaking her hand
21st May 2020
Joyce Mathenge, a 33-year old mother of three from Kiawara, Nyeri County is sexually assaulted and beaten by police a few minutes before the curfew time. She does not pursue the case for fear of victimization by the same police officers that are well known to her.
18th May 2020
Bernard Chasia a Barber from Mbaya Area in Vihiga County is attacked by four policemen, who knock out two of his teeth. This occurs in his homestead at 5 pm. His wife Hellen runs to help him but is arrested and taken to Kilingili Police Station. She is released the following morning with no charge after her family comes to inquire about her.
17th May 2020
Elijah Mageto from Nyabioto, Nyamira County is viciously attacked by twelve Police Officers on patrol at 7:05 pm. Elijah is making his way home and is about to enter his compound when they pounce on him, handcuffing both his hands and legs. They hit him and torture him by squeezing his private parts. They later take him to Manga Police Station where they detain him for three days denying him access to any medical attention. He is released after being forced to pay them Ksh. 5000. He claims to now suffer from erectile dysfunction due to the bodily harm meted on him.
14th May 2020
Wilberforce Ogola goes to lock the gate of his house at 7.15 pm in Matungu, Kakamega County. He is confronted by a Police Officer on patrol who hits him repeatedly, inflicting an eye injury. Another officer shoots in the air to scare away passers-by. The perpetrator is a senior officer at the Matungu Police Station. It later takes the intervention of the OCS of Koyonzo Police Station for Matungu Police Station to allow Wilberforce to make a formal report. They however refuse to issue him with a P3 Form and demand that he provide witnesses, without which they will not proceed with the case. Following this, he has received numerous threats warning him against pursuing the case.
3rd May 2020
John Koech flees from police in Silibwet Town, Bomet County, and is killed by an oncoming motorist. The police catch hold of John in Arap Barkak Estate at 7 pm and begin to strangle and beat him. The residents come out shouting, but police disperse them with teargas. As John tries to escape and sprint across the road, he’s knocked down by a car. He is buried three days later. His mother now demands Justice
2nd May 2020
Amos Chepkwony stays in Soin Sigowet of Kericho County, where Police Officers from Sondu Police Station storm his house at 7 pm. He has just returned from a friend where he had gone to negotiate the purchase of a vehicle. They beat him up, accusing him of harbouring criminals at home. The officers confiscate a jacket he’s wearing containing Ksh.200,000 and shoot in the air outside before leaving. Amos goes to record a statement with Sondu Police Station the same night, and as he is doing this, the same officers arrive and begin to hit him in the presence of the Deputy DCIO. He is chased away from the station.
30th April 2020
In Nambale, Busia County, Orenga and his nine family members are attacked and clubbed by 15 Police Officers, who destroy their property and steal household items. At 7.30 pm, the officers on patrol in a Police Land Cruiser stop at the Orenga homestead and demand to be allowed in. They then jump over the fence and without a word start beating the family members in the compound. 15-year-old Dennis Mkhekhe suffers a fractured leg, and 28-year-old Godfrey Sande is left with a deep cut on his forehead. The family state that the area OCS was present during the attack. Fearing the Nambale police, they report the matter to a different Police Station. All the family members file statements and fill out P3 Forms.
8th April 2020
Evans Nyakeri a Carpenter from Bobasi, Kisii County encounters Police Officers from Nyamache Police Station while leaving his workshop at Matierio Shopping Centre. They confiscate his motorbike and force him to walk home. He’s coerced to give them Ksh.1000 the next day, for the return of his bike. He later discovers that a memory card has been stolen from his bike.
4th April 2020
Police assault Peter Kariuki Mwangi in Tetu, Nyeri County on his way home riding his motorbike at 7:10 pm. A police officer from Gichira Police Station hits him with a baton and robs him of Ksh.500. He obtains a P3 Form from the same Police Station the next day, only after they insist that an unknown assailant assaulted him.
4th April 2020
Robert Tonui of Mutarakwa, Bomet County has his restaurant utensils destroyed by police with machetes, when they break into his house in the middle of the night. The officers accuse him of selling illicit brew, arresting and detaining him at Singorwet Police Post. He is released after giving in to their demand of Ksh.10,000.
3rd April 2020
Police from Motonto Police Station in Bonchari, Kisii County assault Daniel Okero. Three officers attack him outside his gate at 6:30 pm. He suffers a broken arm and affected livelihood. He chooses to record a statement with the police in Suneka, far from his home.
05 Aug 2020
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InformAction is a unique human rights organization that uses film and community discussions to get ordinary people to speak out and take action. We operate through mobile field teams – using a car, screen, projector and camera - to show films to thousands of ordinary people throughout Kenya every week, facilitating discussions on justice and governance, and the creation of Community Action Teams that speak power to truth, demanding for accountability and good governance at all levels of Government.
Since 2010, InformAction (IFA) has empowered hundreds of thousands of Kenyans in rural and marginalized areas, profiling the demands for change through innovative media and action. It has focused on impunity, governance, and justice for victims of political violence. In an environment that has become increasingly difficult for civil society and free expression, we use our...
