BY Kennedy Lumwamu
A human rights organisation in Uasin Gishu County wants the Director of Public Prosecutions to investigate rampant cases of human rights violation and brutality by county enforcement officers.
The executive director for Centre Against Torture (CAT) Kimutai Kirui said the most affected were small scale traders, including hawkers and boda boda riders, operating in Eldoret town.
Addressing the press, Kirui asked the DPP to move with speed and expedite investigations into claims of brutality and torture.
“It is unfortunate that the county law enforcement officers are carrying out their duties under the rule of jungle and our efforts to seek help from the police have fallen on deaf ears,” he said. He said that some even have direct communication with the ‘top leadership’ and have become a law into themselves.
The most affected are small scale traders, including hawkers and boda boda riders, operating within Eldoret town.
He complained that cases related to brutality and arbitrary arrests of innocent traders and motor cycle operators by enforcement officers were never investigated by the local police. Kimutai said that more than 100 people have been brutalised and maimed by the askaris while carrying out their legal business in town and its environs.
He was reacting to last week’s incident where one of the victims, Samson Kipchirchir Chumba, a boda boda rider, was brutally beaten by the county askaris who left him with a fractured leg.
Kimutai castigated the police for refusing to investigate the matter which he said was in public domain, to ensure the victim gets justice. He claimed that even some senior county officers were helpless and that in some cases duly filled P3 forms were ignored on grounds of insufficient evidence.
100 People so far brutalised by Uasin Gishu County officials, according to Centre Against Torture.
“We are calling on DPP to investigate the ongoing conspiracy between the police and county enforcement officers that has resulted to denying of justice for victims of brutality and torture.”
However, Uasin Gishu governor Jackson Mandago’s security advisor Paul Ruto disputed the allegations that his officers were subjecting the traders and boda boda operators to brutality and torture, and “advised” those with complaints against the county enforcement officers to channels them to the relevant authorities for investigation and action.
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