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Leaders point fingers at police as torture victims are buried


Politicians from the Jubilee Alliance on Saturday turned their barrels on the police force during the burials of human rights lawyer Willie Kimani and taxi driver Joseph Muiruri in Kiambu and Nyandarua counties respectively.

Scores of lawmakers accused the government of condoning police brutality and demanded that severe action be taken against police officers suspected to have tortured the two to death.

The leaders who spoke at lawyer Kimani’s burial at Mai-a-ihii in Kikuyu, Kiambu, said the government should do all within its powers to weed out rotten eggs in the police force.

The leaders included Senator Kimani Wamatangi (Kiambu) and MPs Ferdinand Waititu (Kabete) Kimani Ichung’wa (Kikuyu), Moses Kuria (Gatundu South), Jude Njomo (Kiambu Town), Paul Koinange (Kiambaa), John Kiragu (Limuru) and Woman Rep Anna Nyokabi.

Mr Wamatangi condemned the duo’s killing as inhuman and regrettable, and demanded that the police force undergoes a radical surgery to weed out criminal elements.

“The Judiciary underwent the radical surgery to eliminate the criminal elements within it and I wonder what is so unique with cleaning the police force to remove officers who have criminal records,” Mr Wamatangi said.

The senator took issue with the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) for doing little to clean the force, instead concentrating on probing their lifestyles.

He called for a law requiring all police officers to be vetted after every three months, saying such a move will help “restore the force’s image”.

BRUTAL KILLING

The bodies of Mr Kimani, his client Mr Josephat Mwenda and Mr Muiruri’s were found on July 1 in a river at Ol Donyo Sabuk in Machakos County.

Mr Waititu said the brutal killing of the three embarrassed all politicians who have been supporting the Jubilee government and demanded that those behind their heinous killing be brought to book.

“It is disappointing and frustrating for us who have been supporting this government because this killings are being carried out by people in the same government and it is high time the trend is brought to an end,” Mr Waititu said.

Mr Kuria and Mr Ichung’wa also demanded stern action against the trio’s killers.

In Rwanyambo, Kinangop, the village was united in grief. In their numbers, they trudged to Mr Muiruri’s rural home to give him an emotional send off.

When the vehicle carrying the remains of the late taxi driver’s body snaked into their modest home, tears flowed freely. Other mourners stood in studious silence.

Nyandarua Senator Muriuki Karue was applauded after calling on the government to fix all police stations across the country with CCTV cameras.

“We want to know what happens inside those cells when police arrest suspects. It should no-longer be business as usual,” he argued.