In a tragic turn of events, Charles Owino, a 19-year-old, lost his life to a gunshot wound to the head during July’s anti-government demonstrations near Nairobi, according to an autopsy reported by Reuters.
However, his death, as recorded by the police, was classified as a road accident, Owino’s brother revealed after he saw the morgue log entry upon identifying the body. Reuters hasn’t been able to access the mentioned document. Similarly, in a separate instance, police claimed Shaquille Obienge, aged 21, succumbed to a road accident, as noted by his father during an interview with Reuters. But the autopsy conducted by the government disclosed that Obienge, who was also part of the protests, suffered a gunshot wound to the neck, happening concurrently with Owino’s death in Nairobi’s Kitengela suburb, as documented in the report Reuters encountered.
In the Kenyan system, police detail the cause of death in morgue logbooks when bodies are delivered, with autopsies typically taking place after family confirmation.
Reuters engaged with three police officers involved in crowd control units during protests, who disclosed a troubling practice of misreporting deaths instigated by police actions as accidental in morgue logs, disguising them as “mob justice” or “drownings.” These officers insisted on keeping their identities secret given the sensitive nature of the topic.
Looking further into the issue, Reuters reviewed four autopsy reports by public pathologists following family identification of Owino, Obienge, and two additional young men who perished amid the June and July protests that reverberated throughout Kenya.
Families noted inconsistencies between the stipulated causes of death in the police logs and autopsy findings in three cases.
The bodies bore identification numbers that were recorded into the logbooks, handy for relatives to match entries and verify police statements concerning death causes, even when names weren’t associated with Obienge and Owino initially.
Reuters has not yet verified the accusations brought forward by these families independently.
The third individual, Kepher Odiwuor Ouma, aged 24, was allegedly a victim of “mob justice”, as stated by the police in the logs. But eyewitnesses informed Reuters that police seized Ouma at a July 3 protest, leaving him severely beaten and unconscious.
The last protester, Denzel Omondi, was discovered on July 6, lifeless in a water body, nine days post his disappearance, with drowning cited as the reason in the autopsy.
The National Police Service has not commented on specific cases reviewed by Reuters. In addition, inquiries directed towards President William Ruto’s office, and the interior ministry for remarks elicited no responses.
In the wake of widespread protests against tax increments and political corruption starting in late June, thousands of young Kenyans rallied. Deputy President Kithure Kindiki reported 42 deaths from police action, amidst rights groups alleging live rounds being used.
Many right-wing organizations accused the Kenyan government of suppressing information regarding numerous police-related deaths, unsolved disappearances, and unlawful detentions tied to the protests, dubbed the Gen-Z protests due to the prominent youthful participation.
The government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights logged 82 enforced disappearance instances between June and December, a stark contrast to nine events over the preceding eighteen months. Out of these, 29 remain unaccounted as mentioned in their statement on December 26.
Some claimed kidnappings were reportedly connected to an obscure unit within the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, according to three officers and Otsieno Namwaya from Human Rights Watch, who pinpointed the unit as the DCI’s Operation Action Team (OAT), based on internal DCI feeds.
During a Reuters exchange, Resila Onyango, representing Kenya’s National Police Service, expressed unawareness concerning OAT’s undertakings and the allegations implicated against it.
On inquiries about police-related assassinations and unauthorized incarcerations, Onyango mentioned that the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) would probe formal grievances regarding police misconduct.
In July, the IPOA announced handling ten cases concerning unlawful arrests and disappearances, which included Omondi’s abduction as highlighted in this story. Four individuals mentioned their or relatives’ complaints lodged to IPOA. However, IPOA remained unresponsive to commentary requests.
Photos captured by Reuters during the July 16 Kitengela protest displayed Owino’s body on the streets, with blood visible near the head area and a police officer holding a rifle, within view. Owino was identified through a clothes comparison in protest and postmortem images, revealing a head injury.
Reflecting on the protest outcomes, Deputy President Kindiki, controlling police operations then, acknowledged a loss of lives induced by police actions, rationalizing lethal force usage in dire scenarios during a December press discussion.
Later, on December 31, Ruto admitted to occurrences embodying extreme and unlawful maneuvers by security personnel.
MORGUE LOGBOOKS
No stone unturned, Reuters analyzed three months’ worth of log entries at Nairobi Funeral Home, the busiest morgue handling incoming unidentified bodies from police—operated by the city’s local authority. Morgue access was enabled by the leading physician.
Despite efforts, the leading doctor there, alongside the Nairobi health department chief, declined interview propositions. Reviewing logbooks from June 25, coinciding with parliament protests, to September’s end displayed a mere nine entries attributed to gunshot-related deaths, halved from the previous year’s equivalent timeframe.
The logs upheld anonymity unless police supplied identification details. Only one gunshot demise was logged between June 25—a protest’s pinnacle—and June 30.
During this three-month span, the records pointed to 94 deaths labeled by police as results of “mob justice” or drownings, a jump from 59 in the prior year’s logs for the equivalent duration.
In total, the morgue accepted 694 bodies via police over the noted period, rising by 25% from the former year’s data.
When Reuters exhibited these findings to Irungu Houghton, Amnesty International’s Kenya boss remarked at the low gunshot fatalities revealing possible cover-up efforts. Reuters couldn’t verify the veracity of this suspicion.
CLOSE RANGE
George Obienge, a restaurateur, confronted resistance from Nairobi morgue staff initially while searching for his son Shaquille, six days post the Kitengela incident. Staff claimed newly received bodies were road mishap victims.
Eventually entering, Obienge identified his son, noting a major neck wound, as supported by photos éluctible with Reuters.
The autopsy determined Shaquille’s demise stemmed from a “close-range gunshot,” as deduced from the shared report imagery with Reuters by Obienge. Reuters couldn’t ascertain the underlying pathologists who conducted three of the autopsies reviewed.
On July 3, during another protest, Ouma trudged alongside peers when police stormed in, nabbing some, stuffing them into a vehicle, and beating them, as recounted by two witnesses present and Ouma’s uncle speaking with Reuters.
While others escaped with scrapes, Ouma was brutalized severely, resulting in unconsciousness, before being carted away by police, noted a friend who was initially seized. Police delivered Ouma’s corpse five weeks later to Nairobi’s morgue, recorded as having “been found lifeless” on the roadside, per a photo of a signed postmortem form by police handed to Reuters by Ouma’s uncle. The completion cited blunt force trauma as the death catalyst. The morgue logs labeled his demise as “mob justice,” as stated by his uncle. Reuters hasn’t accessed this log entry.
POLICE BRUTALITY
The much-maligned DCI’s Special Service Unit (SSU) has long been embroiled in hundreds of accusations, including allegations by Amnesty International’s Kenya sector, linking it to over 500 state-sanctioned killings and several forced disappearances from 2019 through September 2022.
Early October 2022, soon after stepping into office, Ruto dissolved the SSU, accusing it of arbitrary Kenyan killings. Former leadership, spanning ex-president Uhuru Kenyatta and police hierarchy, have yet to address these accusations publicly.
Substituting the SSU, another DCI squad, known as OAT, has spearheaded protest clampdowns, as verified by the three officers who divulged this to Reuters.
Further, Namwaya of HRW claimed OAT is essentially a reshuffle, housing previous SSU members via disclosures from police affiliations. Reuters could not ascertain OAT’s criminal activities.
Police disinterest prevailed regarding clarifications on OAT’s actions or personnel strength.
MISSING
Omondi’s death remains a mystery—his body unearthed in an isolated quarry pond within Nairobi’s outskirts. An autopsy by a public pathologist delineated lung hyperinflation alongside head, neck, forearm, and knee bruising. James Otieno, his father, provided Reuters a copy of this report.
“Something transpired prior to the drowning,” remarked Otieno, a 55-year-old private security practitioner, alluding to IPOA’s pledged inquiry. IPOA didn’t address Omondi’s inquiry from Reuters.
Reuters communicated with seven individuals either abducted or linked to disappeared kin. Six abductees, identified as activists or vocal figures, including Bob Njagi and Aslam Longton, embraced protest causes enduring over a month of captivity. Three kin shared instances of having family members abducted post-protests from home or publicly. One family member remains absent.
In previews from the street, former law student Joshua Okayo recounted being abducted in late June by individuals using metal rods to assault him, interrogating his protest participation, culminating in an offer before his two-day release.
“They propositioned, ‘would you aid us? Sharing protest insights yields perks,’” recounted Okayo. Reuters couldn’t authenticate if police carried out Okayo’s abduction.Sign up here.
Reporting and orchestrating the apprehension by Ammu Kannampilly; Vivianne Wandera, Edwin Okoth, David Lewis, and Humphrey Malalo in Nairobi contributed alongside Fred Ooko in Homa Bay; edited under Frank Jack Daniel’s guidance
Edited by: Ali Musa
alimusa@axadletimes.com
Axadle international–Monitoring
