IPOA opens probe into Murang’a executions

Tuesday, 14th March 2023

 

The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has launched investigations into the controversial executions of two suspects in Murang’a County.

 

In a statement signed by Chairperson Anne Makori and released on Monday, the body said it had been notified of the killings and dispatched a team of investigators.

 

“Upon conclusion of its investigations, the Authority shall take appropriate action, including recommending to the Director of Public Prosecutions the prosecution of any person found culpable,” the statement reads in part.

 

IPOA’s investigations come on the back of pressure from Kenyans to have the matter looked into, after the public pointed out discrepancies in statements issued by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.

 

According to a narration by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), there was a fierce exchange of fire between the suspects, who had staged a robbery, and police officers.

 

The DCI said the suspects, part of a six-man gang, had staged a robbery at a Unaitas SACCO Mununga branch within Kigumo town on Friday, where they made away with an unknown amount of money after disarming a police officer and taking possession of his G3 rifle.

 

In response, the police launched a joint operation between officers drawn from Murang’a and Kiambu counties backed  up by an elite team from the Crime Research and Intelligence Bureau.

 

But while the narration spoke of a fierce gun fight, an earlier post by the DCI, now deleted, showed the two  suspects cuffed together under police custody.

 

In the previous post, the suspects were surrounded by multiple police officers in an unnamed location.

 

Kenyans called out the DCI for the unexplained turn of events that left the two suspects dead.

 

The Kenyans have pointed fingers at the Directorate for possible extrajudicial killings, just months after President William Ruto said the vice would not be allowed to exist in his administration. “in its investigations, IPOA is impartial, fair and transparent,” the body said in its Monday statement.