Edgar Ogutu is a journalist with Ghetto Radio and a human rights defender in Nairobi. In January, he wrote to the UN requesting urgent investigations into extrajudicial killings in Kenya.
Edgar described the state of young people especially in the slums of Nairobi as “desperate”. In his letter to the United Nation Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, he said:
“The elimination of life by the trigger happy police and impunity in Kenya is a subject of big concern not only to me as an investigative reporter but also to victims calling for justice but [who] end up being ignored by forces like civil society and political duty bearers just because of intelligence-created narrative so that they can continue to cleanse an entire generation of youths in Kayole, Githurai, Njiru, Kibra, Mathare, Eastleigh, Pumwani and so many other slums especially in Eastlands.”
There seems to be no end in sight to this problem.
Last week, a video circulating online showed a police officer in uniform brutalizing a hapless, unarmed citizen in Nairobi. The video sparked widespread outrage.
Yet a lot of people appear to believe that police are justified to use excessive force, or even to kill suspects, in the fight against crime.
In the same week that the video of police brutality emerged, a former police officer based in Githurai was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing a suspect five years ago.
The Daily Nation shed tears, headlining its eulogy as, “Fall of a crime buster.”
“He was loved and adored by the ordinary wananchi but hated and feared by the underworld, which he fought with fearless devotion,” the Nation mourned. “For the trouble, Titus Katitu, the 45-year-old police constable, will now spend 15 years in prison for murder.”
A probation report filed in court testified that Katitu was a hero, the Nation went on.
He was “a darling of the people – having helped reduce crime in the area. In fact, some of those who were interviewed, including boda boda operators and women selling vegetables in Githurai, said Mr Titus Ngamau Musila Katitu should be released to reduce the surging crime rate.”
And so on and so forth.
But how did the “revered crime buster” do his job? How did he manage to reduce crime in Githurai? Were his methods in accordance with the law? The Nation did not address itself to such questions. Perhaps those are minor details. Crime should be dealt with by whatever means.
The Nation even attempted to exonerate Katitu. It reported that the circumstances under which the suspect, Kenneth Kimani Mwangi, died “remained unclear.” Yet rights organizations and, significantly, the Independent Police Oversight Authority, maintained that he was killed in cold blood.
Kimani’s mother, Purity Wanjiku Mwangi, said her son was executed by Katitu, who later boasted of his heroic deed, the paper reported.
Justice James Wakiaga said the court had looked at the evidence presented before it, the nature of the offence and the circumstances of the case.
So, why did the Nation report that the circumstances under which Kimani was killed remained unclear? What other clarity did the paper want?
All the talk about a “revered crime buster” etcetera ignores the seriousness of extrajudicial killings in Kenya. Everyone has the right to life. And, two, a suspected criminal is entitled to the due process of law.
A police officer, however dedicated to duty, cannot appoint himself judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one.
Katitu, according to the Nation, was loved and adored by wananchi but hated by the underworld. That underworld must include the victim’s mother, Purity Wanjiku. Listen to her words, as reported by the Nation:
“I was traumatized by the bravado expressed by the accused person that he was justified to execute my son in cold blood, unarmed, in defenceless submission and on account of unproven allegations, yet our law presumes a suspect innocent and provides for a fair trial for all criminal allegations.”
Katitu was sent to jail. Kenneth Kimani Mwangi, his victim, has been dead for five years. Who is in a better place for committing a crime? And to think Mwangi was never given the same chance as Katitu to stand trial for whatever crime he is alleged to have committed!
The wananchi to whom Katitu was “a darling”, people who probably have never met Purity Wanjiku, need civic education to understand the duties of a police officer under the law.
And a self-respecting national newspaper should not be amplifying the misguided views of members of the public about fighting crime.
The Nation has a duty to promote the rule of law. In a country where extrajudicial killings by security agencies are a major concern, as journalist Edgar Ogutu rightly states, how can the media cheer on killer cops?
