One year after major protests against corruption, Kenyans are holding remembrance marches for victims of police violence. Renewed demonstrations follow the death of a teacher in custody. RFI spoke to a policy analyst on whether youth protests can drive real reform.
In 2024, widespread protests erupted across Kenya in response to a proposed bill that sought a significant increase in taxes, culminating on 25 June. These demonstrations were met with a forceful and violent response from the police.
At least 60 people were killed during protests in June and July 2024, and dozens more were illegally detained by security forces in the aftermath.
This year, the country's youth are back on the streets protesting against that violence.
Although the government had called for calm since last summer, the death of Albert Ojwang in police custody - arrested for publishing a blog post criticising a police officer - sparked a new wave of protests in early June this year.
Douglas Kivoi, a policy analyst at the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), told RFI that he was not surprised by the events, as they reflect the typical conduct of police officers in the country.
Kivoi has been studying the role and behaviour of the police in Kenya for many years.
"They are used in settling political scores and silencing any dissent that the powers are not comfortable with. So that is just one of the few that made it to the public domain. Many of those cases hardly make it to the media. If the family keeps quiet or is threatened with dire consequences," he told RFI.
"We have a progressive constitution but our police officers have refused to change and transform themselves and align themselves with best international practices," Kivoi added.
Protesters and counter-protesters
Counter-protesters are also marching and supporting the police, raising fears of new violence, especially in Nairobi.
Addressing the crisis last Tuesday, Kenya's President William Ruto promised to put an end to abductions, but was unapologetic in his latest speech, vowing to "stand by" the police.
"You cannot use force against the police or insult or threaten the police. You are threatening our nation," he warned protesters.
Kivoi, however, points out that shooting someone at point-blank range, as has happened in a recent incident, cannot be justified in any circumstances.
"Someone who is just selling masks in the streets and then is shot at point blank range - I mean, how on earth would anybody do that knowing that the institution that they work for is under scrutiny for another murder of an individual who was arrested for a misdemeanour offense and then tortured to death in the police detention facilities?," he asks
He believes this demonstrates that impunity within the police service and related policing agencies runs deeper than is apparent to the public.
Problems in police agencies
Kivoi believes that violence within Kenya’s police force has been an issue since before the country’s independence.
He points out that even the most well-considered recommendations from police reviews and his own research have yet to be implemented.
"We take one step forward and then we take five steps backwards," Kivoi told RFI.
"Since independence in 1963, the first president, Jomo Kenyatta, used police to silence any dissent. And when the second president (Daniel arap Moi) took over, it was the same story," he said. "Assassinations, torture, detention."
Later, when Mwai Kibaki assumed the presidency in 2002, he attempted to reform the police. However, the post-election violence of 2007-2008 marked a turning point, with numerous accusations directed at police officers for their actions. Many victims lost their lives either due to police gunfire or the failure of the police to act.
In 2010, Kenya drew-up and implemented a new constitution, which is progressive according to many including Kivoi.
The country also put in place institutions like the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, in an attempt to delink police from the office of the president.
"I believe the problem lies in our policing agencies. It's not the resources," he said. "So, if you carry out reforms in the name of changing institutions' names and changing uniforms from the Kenya Police Force to National Police Service, that doesn't change the attitude of these officers as they approach their work and in the way they interact with communities."
To solve this problem he argues that the training of police officer must change.
"We need to change the way our officers are trained, then to depoliticise the policing, because police officers, since independence, have been used by the government of the day to settle political scores, arrest people without any justifiable reason, like Ojwang, who was tortured and killed in a police facility."
Kibera residents fear repetition of Kenyan election violence
System change
Kenya's Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said on Monday said it would press murder charges against six people, including three police officers, for their role in killing Ojwang. The six suspects were arraigned on Tuesday.
Kivoi thinks that it is still difficult to highlight issues of police excesses and punitive actions because the media in Kenya "sometimes goes to bed with the government", and doesn't denounce police brutality.
"But the fact that we have got social media, and then we have got a young population that has embraced technology, makes it more difficult for police to think that they will behave the way they have been behaving and get away with it."
The protests, and the technology helping reporting them, are playing a critical role in highlighting cases of police excesses when they are interacting with the civilians.
Kenya rights groups have counted more than 80 disappearances of government critics since last year's protests, with dozens still missing.
