Mwakera Mwajefa And Mathias Ring
1 September 2008
Nairobi — The Coast provincial administration and police on Monday differed while giving evidence at the Waki Commission on how post-election violence erupted in the region.
In his evidence at Town Hall in Mombasa, provincial commissioner Ernest Munyi said the violence was "planned".
"As soon as the presidential results were broadcast violence erupted in Changamwe, Likoni and Kisauni, which gave the police a hectic time to control," he said.
He conceded that in the first two days of violence - December 30 and 31 - the police were overwhelmed by the well-coordinated protests in the Mombasa suburbs.
According to the PC, the youths were at the forefront in organising and perpetrating the violence.
But provincial police officer King'ori Mwangi contradicted the PC, saying the violence was not planned.
"Violence just erupted from groups of people who were not happy with the presidential results," he said.
Mr Munyi said the violence mainly affected Mombasa and Kilindini districts, adding that 25 people died and houses were burnt and shops looted by the organised groups of youths.
Mr Mwangi said: "Violence just erupted from groups of people who were not happy with the presidential results."
Prior to the elections, the PPO said, his officers had identified "hot spots" in the province such as Kwale, Msambweni, Tana River, Lamu, Likoni and Kisauni.
He explained that Kwale was identified because of the presence of the outlawed Mombasa Republican Revolution Council while Tana River was cited due to the Pokomo and Orma ethnic conflict.
"We identified Likoni because of the 1997 violence and what happened during the constitutional referendum," he said.
Mr Mwangi said he was satisfied with the way the police managed the violence.
However, he had a difficult time when explaining to the commission under which law the police used live ammunition that saw four people killed.
Lawyer Haroun Ndubi, representing the civil society, said although the police had denied gender-related violence in the province there were witnesses who could testify to that effect.
"We have people from Likoni and Changamwe who will bear witness to the police brutality," he said.
But Mr Justice Philip Waki told him to ensure the witnesses testified before the commission for his submission to be accepted.
"If there are witnesses to this effect let them appear before us so that we can hear their evidence," he said.
Asked by commissioners who would institute investigations against the police, Mr Mwangi said he was responsible depending on where the complaint arose.
"For example, if the complaints are against a police officer in Mombasa, I will form a probe team from Malindi officers," he said.
On the five people shot dead, the PPO said the police were responsible for four but the circumstances of the last one were unclear.
He said on two occasions at Mishomoroni and Magongo police came under fire from gangsters and that could have resulted in the death of civilians.
Mr Mwangi suggested that a law should be passed to 'criminalise' the use of SMS or e-mails to cause despondency.
"At the height of post-election violence, some people used SMS to incite others like one that said Mungiki would burn mosques in Mombasa," he said, adding that the rumour was meant to disrupt peace in the area.
Responding to Mr Justice Waki's question on police's relationship with the Muslim for Human Rights (Muhuri), Mr Mwangi described the lobby's activities as "strange" although the police treated it as any other rights organisation.
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