The News
The United States is piling pressure on Kenya’s President William Ruto over reported extrajudicial killings and abductions by police during youth-led protests in the East African nation, a US senator told Semafor Africa.
The US wants officers involved to be held accountable, a message US Senator Chris Murphy — a member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee — said he delivered to Ruto during his trip to the country last week.
Sixty people were killed over the course of the demonstrations which started in June, according to the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). And more than 60 went missing and several more were injured. No officers have so far been prosecuted or sacked in relation to their alleged conduct during their protests, although probes are ongoing according to the country’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa).
“These crackdowns, when done violently and poorly around the world, end up leading to more instability, not more stability, in most cases,” said Murphy, who is considered to be among the frontrunners to be secretary of state if Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris wins the upcoming US presidential election.
Murphy said he raised the reported disappearances and abuses in meetings with Ruto and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.
“I think it’s really important for US leaders to convey those concerns and make it clear that our relationship can’t be at its strongest level unless there is a real commitment from the Kenyan government to hold anyone that engages in abuse, particularly in the context of these protests, accountable.”
Know More
The US sees Kenya as a key strategic partner in a continent where its influence and presence has been waning, particularly in Sahel and West African states. Chinese and Russian presence on the continent, and that of Gulf states, has also been growing.
Kenya’s protests and the police response have tainted Washington’s embrace of Ruto, which was capped by a rare state visit in May and Kenya’s designation as a non-NATO ally.
Kenyan members of parliament last week voiced frustration over the lack of action taken on police officers accused of engaging in illegal killings and abductions. They gave the Ipoa until the end of August to provide and publish in-depth details on its investigations into 50 deaths the body recorded during the protests.
“We have 61 deaths recorded from the Gen Z protests,” said MP Gathoni Wamuchomba while questioning Ipoa officials.“You haven’t been able to arrest or convict those responsible for the abductions, deaths, and violations of human rights. What has Ipoa done?”
Step Back
The protests in Kenya began in opposition to unpopular tax hikes proposals contained in the Finance Bill 2024. The bill was subsequently dropped on the back of public pressure, but protests continued with calls for Ruto’s resignation and the prosecution of police officers in killings.
Ruto, who dismissed nearly his entire cabinet at the height of the protests, brought several senior members of the largest opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) into his cabinet in July. Key ministries handed to the opposition party in what Ruto describes as a “broad-based government” were the National Treasury and Planning.
Martin’s view
The prosecution of police officers accused of engaging in illegal killings and abductions during the protests is necessary to build trust in the country’s justice system. A failure to punish wrongdoers would only fuel existing anger over corruption and taxation that has seen mostly Gen Z and millennial Kenyans take to the streets in recent months.
Promises by the government to compensate victims of police brutality, so far unfulfilled, should also be met. This should be a particularly important concern for the government as the likely re-introduction of some proposed tax hikes from the finance bill could spark a new wave of demonstrations.
Room for Disagreement
Ruto has previously said he would “ensure accountability” in relation to police officers accused of extrajudicial killings during the protests. In July, he also called for the release of wrongly arrested peaceful protesters, saying it would accelerate an investigation into the elements he claims ‘hijacked’ the demonstrations.
“This will enable the agencies to focus their resources, efforts and time on investigating and prosecuting serious criminal elements who took advantage of peaceful demonstrations to advance a dangerous agenda,” he said.
The View From Nigeria
Rights organizations including Amnesty Nigeria have called for an investigation into the deaths of 23 protesters it says were killed across the country during demonstrations over the cost of living held earlier this month. Young protesters in Nigeria were reportedly inspired by their counterparts in Kenya.
“Our findings, so far, show that security personnel at the locations where lives were lost deliberately used tactics designed to kill while dealing with gatherings of people protesting hunger and deep poverty,” Amnesty Nigeria wrote in a statement.