US piles pressure on Ruto over police killings, abductions
The US government piles pressure on President Ruto over police killings, and abductions during Gen-Z protests
The US government piles pressure on President Ruto over police killings, and abductions during Gen-Z protests.
The United States is piling pressure on Kenya’s President William Ruto over reported extrajudicial killings and abductions by police during youth-led protests in the East African nation, US Senator Chris Murphy said.
The US wants officers involved to be held accountable, a message US Senator Chris Murphy — a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — said he delivered to Ruto during his trip to the country last week.
Sixty people were killed over the course of the demonstrations which started in June, according to the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
More than 60 went missing and several more were injured.
No officers have so far been prosecuted or sacked in relation to their alleged conduct during their protests, although probes are ongoing according to the country’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa).
“These crackdowns, when done violently and poorly around the world, end up leading to more instability, not more stability, in most cases,” said Murphy, who is considered to be among the frontrunners to be secretary of state if Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris wins the upcoming US presidential election.
Murphy said he raised the reported disappearances and abuses in meetings with Ruto and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.
“I think it’s really important for US leaders to convey those concerns and make it clear that our relationship can’t be at its strongest level unless there is a real commitment from the Kenyan government to hold anyone that engages in abuse, particularly in the context of these protests, accountable.”
The US sees Kenya as a key strategic partner in a continent where its influence and presence has been waning, particularly in the Sahel and West African states. Chinese and Russian presence on the continent, as well as that of Gulf states, has also been growing.
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Kenya’s protests and the police response have tainted Washington’s embrace of Ruto, which was capped by a rare state visit in May and Kenya’s designation as a non-NATO ally.
Kenyan members of parliament last week voiced frustration over the lack of action taken on police officers accused of engaging in illegal killings and abductions.
They gave the Ipoa until the end of August to provide and publish in-depth details on its investigations into 50 deaths the body recorded during the protests.
“We have 61 deaths recorded from the Gen Z protests,” said MP Gathoni Wamuchomba while questioning Ipoa officials.“You haven’t been able to arrest or convict those responsible for the abductions, deaths, and violations of human rights. What has Ipoa done?”
The protests in Kenya began in opposition to unpopular tax hikes proposals contained in the Finance Bill 2024. The bill was subsequently dropped on the back of public pressure, but protests continued with calls for Ruto’s resignation and the prosecution of police officers in killings.
Ruto, who dismissed nearly his entire cabinet at the height of the protests, brought several senior members of the opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) into his cabinet in July.
Key ministries handed to the opposition party in what Ruto describes as a “broad-based government” were the National Treasury and Planning.
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