Lucas Barasa and Fred Mukinda
8 November 2007
Nairobi — A video clip showing Foreign Affairs minister Raphael Tuju saying 400 Mungiki suspects had been killed by the police was released by a Government human rights watchdog on Wednesday.
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) further tabled postmortem reports on five people it claimed were among 500 men executed between June and October this year.
In spite of rebuke by police commissioner Hussein Ali, officials of the commission maintained that a preliminary report they released earlier proved crimes against humanity had been committed.
"Frankly, we are not sure which parts of the report we should highlight for the police commissioner as constituting evidence," the commission said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Maj-Gen Ali described the 11-page preliminary report, which blamed the police for the 500 deaths, as "a bunch of allegations".
KNCHR chairman Maina Kiai, officials Mue Njonjo, Kamanda Mucheke and Mr Sam Muhocho of Independent Medico-Legal Unit spoke to journalists at CVS Plaza, the commission's headquarters.
The clip showed Mr Tuju in a TV show saying President Kibaki could have faced an uprising from a certain community over the crackdown on Mungiki if they could not have been crooks.
The commission further said it had witness accounts, pictures and other evidence to show at least 500 people were summarily executed.
The bodies were collected from bushes and forests in Ngong and Kiserian in Kajiado as well as in Naivasha and Yatta, Machakos District.
Suggesting the killings were State-sponsored, the human rights officials said they coincided with pronouncements by Government officials on members of Mungiki sect. Mr Kiai also said his investigation team was competent, discounting claims by Maj-Gen Ali that it was not qualified.
He asserted that the commission was mandated by law to conduct independent investigations.
Required standards
Mr Kiai also said: "KNCHR Act expressly provides in section 16 that its functions shall include investigating, on its own initiative or upon a complaint made by any person or a group of persons, the violation of human rights."
It also accused the Kenya police of either being unable or unwilling to carry out investigations to the required standards.
Meanwhile, Muslim Human Rights Forum chairman Al-Amin Kimathi faulted Maj-Gen Ali for asking KNCHR to produce evidence on the alleged executions.
Mr Kimathi told the Nation that a preliminary report presented by the commission had circumstantial evidence that was enough for the police to act upon.
"All human rights lobbies and other Kenyans were interested in learning the truth about the killings," he added.
Additional reporting by Oliver Mathenge
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Yes, Tuju said it. Why did Kiai keep quiet then? He should have taken the Minister to task then had he been sincere about fighting for human rights-not to wait until the election time to resurrect the issue. Kiai is working for Raila as he has done all along.What was he doing in Kisumu during Lui Otieno show and he isnot a Kisumu resident. He is just trying to be relevant. Who knows- he might have been an accomplice in the killings and is now shedding crocodile tears because the plan was excuted as strategised-to put the Government in a corner!Why is he not talking about those Mungiki beheaded or dont they have human rights too?