Oscar Kamau King’ara and John Paul Olu have been at the forefront of the fight against killings by police in Kenya. They published unprecedented reports and advised the Kenyan Parliament on how to reform the police. Last month they met with the UN expert on extrajudicial executions. Their organization, the Oscar Foundation, is a pioneering free legal clinic that helps thousands of poor Kenyans secure their rights.
On March 5, they were driving to the National Human Rights Commission. According to reports, vehicles blocked their path; several men approached and shot them dead at point-blank range.
Such a crime needs a serious, effective investigation. Unfortunately the Kenyan police cannot be trusted, for a number of reasons:
* According to a statement by civil society groups, the driver of one of the vehicles was in police uniform.
* Just before the killings, Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua accused the Oscar Foundation of being a front for a criminal group known as the Mungiki sect. This is a dangerous allegation: the Oscar Foundation has documented thousands of police killings of those suspected of being Mungiki followers.
* The police commissioner has himself been implicated in the wave of killings.
* After students began protesting, police responded with live ammunition, killing one student. Three policemen have been arrested in that shooting. Further demonstrations broke out on March 10.
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