Interior Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kithure Kindiki has defended police officers against full responsibility for the deaths of protesters shot during the violent June 25 demonstrations, which saw an invasion of Parliament buildings in Nairobi.
Addressing the National Assembly National Security Committee on Thursday, Kindiki offered a mixed justification for why police resorted to using lethal force against peaceful demonstrators on that day.
Drawing from his legal background, the CS argued that it would be premature to directly accuse police officers without concrete evidence proving that their bullets were responsible for the fatalities.
“Just because someone has been shot doesn’t automatically mean a police officer fired the shot,” Kindiki remarked, adding that assumptions are often made regarding police involvement without substantiating the source of the bullets.
In defending the use of force by security personnel, Kindiki emphasized that officers had a duty to protect key national institutions, including Parliament.
He suggested that without the intervention of law enforcement, the situation could have spiraled out of control, posing a grave threat to Kenya’s constitutional framework.
“It’s incorrect to say that police should never use force. Had we not acted decisively on that day, we would be facing a different reality in Kenya,” he said.
“If constitutional institutions like Parliament, the Judiciary, and the Executive are compromised, we lose the foundation of our country.
This very discussion wouldn’t be possible because the nation as we know it wouldn’t exist.”
Kindiki also provided updates on the fatalities resulting from the anti-government protests that took place between June and August.
While he confirmed that 42 Kenyans had lost their lives, he contested reports by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations, which put the death toll at 61.
The CS explained that his office had compiled a detailed report accounting for 30 of the deaths and the specific circumstances in which those individuals died.
However, he admitted that he was still unsure about the remaining 12 cases and requested 24 hours to gather and present more comprehensive information on these unresolved deaths.
Amnesty International, in its findings released the day before, reported that it had gathered its data by interviewing 23 eyewitnesses and reviewing 45 videos along with more than 100 photographs from the day of the protests.
The organization also highlighted 67 cases of enforced disappearances recorded this year, with 40 having been resolved, leaving 27 still unsolved.
