Kenyans are five times more likely to be shot dead by police rather than criminals according to a recent report by the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU). Latest figures indicate that more than 160 people have been killed by police between January and July this year alone.
The agency raised alarm over rising incidences of extra-judicial killings which mainly target the poor who may not be able to adequately seek justice.
IMLU executive director Peter Kiama said police records indicate 60 per cent of 1,863 bodies taken to mortuaries in the last five years had bullet wounds.
"Records clearly indicate police officers are killing more Kenyans than criminals and there is urgent need to address this," he said.
Kiama attributed the rising cases of torture and murder to lack of strict laws and reported that the government was withholding Sh50 million awarded to torture victims.
"Police are the leading perpetrators of torture but there is no way they can investigate and charge themselves," Kiama said while addressing a press conference at the Great Rift Valley Lodge during the ongoing regional conference for justice actors, attended by representatives from six countries.
Addressing the same gathering, Edna Nyaloti of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said Mt Elgon is one of the areas affected by cases of torture.
"The bodies of those who went missing during the 2008 Okoa Maisha operation were never found and many families are unsure of what happened to their relatives," she said.
Nyaloti also said that many terror suspects were confessing to crimes they had not committed due to torture by the investigating officers.
Human rights representatives from other countries, notably Uganda, also spoke of inhumanly high cases of torture in their home countries.
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