Raila orders probe into executions

Jennifer Muiruri | nation Prime Minister Raila Odinga addresses members of Release Political Prisoners Trust on March 15, 2011. With him are Mr Azimio Maina (centre), whose relatives were murdered in a bizarre incident and Mr Godwin Kamau, of Kikuyu for Peace.  

By WALTER MENYA wmenya@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, March 15 2011 at 22:00

In Summary

• Prime Ministers asks police boss to carry out inquiries into recent abductions and murder

Prime Minister Raila Odinga has ordered investigations into the recent spate of disappearances and extra-judicial killing of youths in the country.

He also asked the police to open fresh investigations into the killings of human rights activists Oscar King’ara and Paul Oulu of Oscar Foundation

The two were murdered in 2009 by people believed to be security operatives.

The directive comes in the wake of the abduction and killing of Mr Kenneth Irungu, 29. The body of Mr Irungu, a primary school teacher in Maralal, was found in Loitoktok last weekend after he was abducted by three men at Muthurwa market where he was having lunch with a friend.

The PM on Tuesday met the family of Mr Irungu as well as human rights defenders and a survivor of police torture, Mr Godwin Kamau, at his office.

Addressing the press later, Mr Odinga said he had directed Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere to investigate the murder of Mr Irungu. The police boss will be expected to brief the PM on a weekly basis on the progress of the investigations.

He assured relatives of the murdered victims that he would personally pursue the matter to see to it that the culprits are brought to book.

“These are very moving accounts and very sordid stories,” he said adding that forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings have no place in modern Kenya.

“I will personally follow up on the issue but I have already directed the Commissioner of Police to assign criminal investigation officers to open an inquest into the alleged extrajudicial executions,” he told a news conference on Tuesday.

Mr Irungu was a witness in the abduction of his two cousins - James Kamuri and Peter Irungu - in Ruiru after they argued with the conductor of a matatu they were travelling in from Kiharu. The bullet-riddled bodies of the duo were discovered the following day.

In the latest case, Mr Irungu was abducted on Friday. His body was found in Loitoktok with gunshot wounds four hours after he was abducted in Nairobi.

He had come to Nairobi to attend the mention of his case at Makadara Law courts. After the court session he went to Muthurwa where he was abducted by three men who bundled him into a awaiting Toyota Premio.  

He was never traced until Sunday when a police officer from Loitoktok informed the Nation that the bullet-riddled body was at the Loitoktok district hospital.

According to witnesses, a white saloon car stopped in the area before gunshots were heard. The vehicle then drove off.

Mr Odinga described the case as a classic example of a James Bond film. “If such things can happen to these innocent people, then no one is safe. This must come to an end,” he said, adding that the process of reforming the police and the Judiciary was under way.

Mr Irungu’s family represented by Mr Azimio Maina on Tuesday pleaded for protection saying they had received threats to their lives. All the family is asking for was to know the truth about Mr Irungu’s death, he said.