Police killings persist as 130 killed in 2022 – Missing Voices Report
Tuesday, 28th March 2023
130 cases of police killings were recorded across Kenya in 2022, according to a report by Missing Voices Coalition.
The report published on March 24 indicates that cases of police killings remain rampant in the country, eventhough the figure has declined compared to 2021.
In the same year, Missing Voices recorded 22 cases of enforced disappearances.
January 2022 saw the highest police killings, with 28 cases from 11 incidents. The second-highest month is July, with 21 police killings arising from 12 incidents. The third highest month is February, with 13 police killings arising from 9 incidents.
Regarding, enforced disappearances, June had the highest number of enforced disappearance cases at six. In June, however, 4 of the six victims were later found dead. These victims were Moses Nyachae, Frank Obegi, Fred Obare, and Elijah Omeka, who were arrested at Kasarani police station only to be found dead. September 2022 has the second highest number of enforced disappearances cases at 4, followed by March with 3 cases and January with 2 cases.
The Missing Voices report pointed out that the Coalition could not pinpoint the police stations involved in the killings and enforced disappearances of 35 people. Out of this number, 19 are linked to enforced disappearance cases where perpetrators identified themselves as police officers.
In contrast, 16 are linked to police killings where families could not identify the police stations the officers involved came from.
While conducting anti-terror operations, a multi-agency task force has been implicated in most killings in Lamu, Mandera, and Turkana Counties, totaling 18 cases.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations, (DCI) was implicated in 8 killings in 2022.
Worryingly, most police killings of women resulted from gender-based violence. The Missing Voices report spells out that five women were killed due to personal arguments or gender-based violence, while a stray bullet killed one.
