Nairobi — Police Threatened and Barred Volunteers from the Site
Kenyan authorities should conclude and publicly announce the outcome of their investigation into the discovery of mutilated bodies at Mukuru Kwa Njenga quarry in July 2024, Human Rights Watch and Mukuru Community Social Justice Centre said today. The inquiry should include allegations of threats and intimidation of Mukuru community members and activists by police.
Volunteers said that the police threatened them and forced them to stop retrieving the bodies. Eight months later, the authorities have taken no steps to alleviate fears and concerns of community members and relatives of missing people that the authorities are determined to cover-up the truth about what happened to the victims and who is responsible.
"Rather than obstruct the retrieval of bodies, Kenyan police should promptly and thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding dumping of bodies at the quarry," said Otsieno Namwaya, associate Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The Independent Policing Oversight Authority should investigate police conduct, including threats to volunteers who helped retrieve bodies from the quarry and ensure the prosecution of those involved in the abuses."
Human Rights Watch and Mukuru Community Social Justice Centre interviewed 21 people, including relatives of victims whose bodies were retrieved from the quarry, activists involved in the retrieval of bodies, one police officer and Mukuru Kwa Njenga residents. Researchers also reviewed the autopsy reports of 17 of the bodies retrieved from the quarry and analyzed satellite images of the quarry from mid-June to the end of July.
Mukuru community members said that security forces tried stop them from retrieving the bodies since July 12, when they retrieved the first six bodies from the water-filled abandoned quarry. They said that officers from the Directorate of Criminal Intelligence (DCI), the anti-riot General Service Unit (GSU) and regular police have made concerted effort to stop the retrieval, including ordering volunteers to stop or risk being charged with the deaths.
Three days after police stopped the retrieval, the quarry was set on fire by people believed by witnesses to be policemen destroying evidence. At least four people interviewed said they saw uniformed police officers visit the quarry every night up to two days before the night the fire broke out.
People interviewed said that after the initial retrieval of six bodies, police and members of other security agencies stood by as volunteers from the Mukuru Kwa Njenga neighborhood climbed into the quarry to help retrieve more of the decomposing bodies. The security agents, however, soon began to throw tear gas canisters and shoot live bullets at angry residents standing by, injuring several.
The bodies were discovered only two weeks after protesters against proposed new taxes stormed parliament and at the height of police crackdown on the protesters. The police threatened, arbitrarily arrested, abducted, and carried out enforced disappearances against the mostly young protesters. Many families still have no information about their missing relatives.
Those interviewed said that when the police stopped the volunteers, there were still gunny bags with body parts inside the quarry. At least three of those who volunteered to retrieve the bodies told researchers that they still fear for their lives because they are being followed by unknown people whom they suspect are police.
One volunteer said he had survived two abduction attempts: first on July 19 by 12 armed and uniformed police officers from the GSU and the DCI; and, on November 20, by two men in civilian clothes accompanied by three uniformed officers from Kware Police Station and an unmarked white Toyota fielder with tinted windows.
"If the public had not intervened on those two occasions, I would not be alive today," he said. "My police abductors were already telling me things like, 'You will never come back here to retrieve bodies again' or 'People will never see you at the quarry again.' I know that if I ever get arrested again, even routinely, I might never come out alive. They have marked me."
The volunteers said that they had retrieved at least 30 gunny bags with body parts in 7 days between July 12 and 18: 13 of them in the first 2 days. The bodies were stuffed in similar gunny bags and tied with a plastic band in similar fashion. They also found similar gunny bags stuffed with garbage, which they suspect to have been an attempt at camouflage by the killers.
On July 15, police announced the arrest of Collins Jomaisi Khalisia, who they said had confessed to killing 42 women, including his wife, and dumped their bodies at the quarry. But on July 20, police announced the suspect's escape from Gigiri Police station, where he was being held pending further investigations. No one has been prosecuted either in relation to the bodies or the escape.
Preliminary postmortem results, media reported, showed that the bodies had been severed either at the waist area or around the abdomen, with the pathologists only able to examine body parts of 17 out of 30 whose body parts had been found, and it remains unclear what happened to the rest of the body parts. Ten of the examined bodies were female while the gender of seven could not be determined because the bodies were badly mutilated. The report said that four of the victims died due to blunt force trauma, and one due to strangulation while the cause of death for 12 could not be ascertained.
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Kenyan authorities should do everything within their powers to ensure justice for the relatives of victims whose bodies were discovered at the quarry, including ensuring that any bodies or body parts that remain there are quickly retrieved and identified. Volunteers and witnesses said they discovered and retrieved body parts of at least one body, days after the fire and they believe many bodies remained there.
Relatives of six of the deceased, all Nairobi residents, were able to identify and bury their remains, including Josephine Mulongo Owino, resident of Kware, the neighborhood of the quarry, who had been missing since June 26, 2024, which was just a day after protesters stormed parliament; Roseline Akoth, resident of Pipeline neighborhood who had been missing since June 28; Rosemary Achieng Otieno, missing since June 23, when she went to visit relatives at Babadogo; and Wilkister Night Ososo, resident of Mukuru Kwa Reuben, missing since June 19.
"President William Ruto should ensure that volunteers who stepped in to retrieve bodies when police were unwilling to do so are not threatened, harassed, or abducted for simply performing their civic duty as good citizens," said David Anami, head of Mukuru Community Social Justice Centre. "He should further ensure that police direct their expertise and resources at ensuring justice for victims of the crimes at the quarry."
