Depending on where you stand, the murder of Benson Njiru Ndwiga and his brother, Emmanuel Mutura Ndwiga, could be yet another instalment of our police service’s routine, impersonal monstrosity, or a chilling reminder of the abominable decay of fundamental national institutions.
Either way, we must mourn the fallen lads with profound sorrow, and lament the loss of innocence, hope and freedom to dream in this country that only a decade ago seemed to have so much going for it.
The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) reported it had dispatched investigators to the ground to conduct thorough investigations whose output would inform further action.
The National Police Service then reported that the officers accused of perpetrating this atrocity have been transferred.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i finally assured the family of the murdered brothers of hastened investigations, adding that “as a parent, it pains me a great deal”.
“We shall be patient for the final report and stop at nothing to ensure justice is served. Action will be swift and decisive on any officer found to be culpable” said Dr Matiang’i.
It is quite interesting to note that the swift and decisive action promised by Dr Matiang’i relates only to the punishment of individual officers implicated in this outrageous brutality.
Notorious for wanton brutality
The Cabinet secretary effectively foreclosed the possibility of similarly swift and decisive overhaul of an organisation that long escaped its institutional moorings to gallop headlong into the abyss of free-wheeling criminality.
This means that accountability for the terrible fate of the Ndwiga sons will not extend to meaningful reforms to relieve Kenya of the oppressive mantle of mindless lawlessness and arbitrary violence continuously meted out by the custodians of law and order.
The only time Kenya’s police service captures positive attention is during athletics, where it has consistently curated a proud lineage of legendary Olympians, from Kipchoge Keino to Catherine Ndereba, Daniel Rudisha, Ezekiel Kemboi and so on.
Yet, going by our lean medal haul at the latest outing, even this golden age appears to be fast receding into memory.
In the overwhelming number of other times, our police service is notorious for wanton brutality to innocent citizens, on their own motion, or at the behest of partisan political interests.
Accusations of moonlighting as robbers, assassins and accomplices to unwholesome characters and renting out weapons and uniforms to criminals fill one end of the spectrum of police infamy.
On the other side are poor response to distress calls, mediocre handling of evidence and scenes of crime, unprofessional treatment of complainants, victims and witnesses, torture and molestation of suspects, extortion soliciting bribes and covering up their own and other parties’ offences.
When the reform of the police service mandated in the Constitution collapsed under coordinated sabotage, the system responded with a compensatory turn to tyranny and repression more severe than anything ever seen before.
Numerous special squads have incorporated and proudly paraded under the pretext of combating violent crime, but it is clear that their implicit extrajudicial execution mandate is liberally deployed on innocent citizens.
Mayhem and lawlessness
As a result, policing norms appear to have been overturned, and the police appear to be at war with citizens, especially the youth.
Further afield, the police are at hand to assist in fomenting mayhem and lawlessness throughout the country.
All over the land, people are viciously tormented daily by armed policemen extorting money in the name of enforcing the curfew and Covid-19-related protocols.
At the Law Society of Kenya headquarters, it is becoming clear that the faction that will prevail in the stormy scramble for effective control will be the one that can enlist the support of the Muthangari Police Station on a sustainable basis.
Elsewhere, one can predict with scientific precision which political event will be facilitated and indulgently watched over by the police, and which one will be dispersed violently into a clamorous and tearful helter-skelter.
And this is only preparatory, long before the 2022 electoral contest rises to full cry.
Abandoned policing reforms
As I have observed here before, it seems that the police are being used to normalise an environment of murder in this country.
There are no rogue police officers anymore; the institution of the Kenya Police Service is rogue in its entirety.
It has been infiltrated by a most unsavoury spirit of corruption, mediocrity, depravity and a severely eroded sense of public service.
The officers rampage about the country in orgies of monstrous impunity every day.
As a result, vulnerable Kenyans must endure senseless death, loss and suffering at the hands of an institution established and funded for their safety, security and the maintenance of law and order.
We short-changed ourselves most grievously when we abandoned policing reforms.
It is time to work hard for their full realisation.
Our legislators must see beyond the blatant bribe of VIP protection and rally to the cause of a better police service for all Kenyans. BY DAILY NATION