Investigations, into police conduct during Gen – Z demonstrations have began to bear fruit, Independent Policing Oversight Authority Chief Elema Halake has said.
He revealed that IPOA has started dispatching concluded investigation files to the Director of Public Prosecutions for review, signalling an end to some of the probes into various incidents where lives were either lost or protesters injured.
Partnerships
Mr Halake was responding to questions from journalists who were attending a training workshop at Nanyuki, Laikipia County.
On the sidelines, he held discussions with Heads of institutions engaged in the Criminal Justice System who had convened at the workshop with the aim of promoting partnership in pursuit of fundamental freedoms for all in Kenya.
The forum, also fashioned to bridge the gap between State agencies and communities they serve, included the training of selected journalists who practice in Laikipia, Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Embu, Meru, Tharaka Nithi, Marsabit and Isiolo counties.
Now in its fifth cycle. the training seeks to promote journalists’ engagement with players in the Criminal Justice System while also tapping into the media’s vast network to reach communities.
On the Gen Z-led protests, Mr Halake revealed that IPOA recorded fifty-six (56) deaths.
“We are committed to have the cases expedited. We are under a lot of pressure from the public and rightly so. The scope of the investigations is challenging because the incidents happened across the whole country and the resources are not adequate,” he said.
Mr Halake went on: “Also, we are not getting the full cooperation we need and many witnesses have not come forth to enable us move with speed. Criminal investigations require forensic support and the evidential threshold is very high.”
The CEO further gave an update into the investigation of journalist Catherine Wanjeri, who was injured during the protests in Nakuru saying IPOA was conducting “a risk analysis” with the aim of making recommendations including having her security enhanced.
This followed further threats to her life after the first incident which happened as she covered the demonstrations.
Bridging the gap
Other institutions presented at the training workshop, were IJM, LSK, ODPP, Amnesty International, IJM, DCI, IAU, NPSC and NPS.
The workshop which also brought together non-State organisations under the umbrella of Missing Voices, began on Monday ends today, Thursday, September 5, 2024.
