Dear President Uhuru Kenyatta.

In a humble state am writing this to you hoping and praying that you will intervene in this situation. I am writing to you because I have just recieved news that my brother Kenneth Kimani has just been gunned down by a Kasarani policeman. The policeman known as TITUS MASILA 'Katitu' has vowed that he will kill all the young men. He calls or visits the mothers of these young men and asserts that he will execute extra judicial killing with no mercy. This far I have lost two brothers as a result of the police force working at Githurai and Kasarani. I know you pray and that you are a man of prayer. I know God speaks to you and for that reason, I write this petition asking you to intervine in this matter. Young people have lost lives because of innocent killings. My mum has lost two boys. I am sure you can understand the pain. Please take this matter seriously and let one of your people investigate this matter. For a better kenya and a better tomorrow. Remember that God may have choosen you at this time to fight for the young people who are voiceless and to ensure that only policemen that can do their job in the right manner. I hope you personally get a chance to read this and let justice prevail.

WE NEED POLICE REFORMS BEFORE THEY WIPE OUT THE YOUTH OF KENYA.


Martin Luther King once said that our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. That is why the shooting to death of Kenneth Kimani, an ex-Mathare United and Mathare Youth FC footballer and my former teammate at Norway Cup must be condemned in the strongest of terms. It is alleged that Kimani was shot dead after he snatched a phone in Githurai. He was unarmed. Whether Kimani was stealing or not can never justify his cold-blooded murder in broad daylight, as the act is neither supported by logic or law. Beginning with logic, any police officer chasing after a phone snatcher who is carrying no weapon can never justify killing another human being to recover a phone. The level of violence occasioned by the act of shooting to death is simply not commensurate to the threat posed by the act of stealing. And let us not forget that the alleged theft remains that -an allegation. The family and eye witnesses dispute this. Now turning to the law, and beginning with the supreme law-the Constitution- this barbaric act is unconstitutional by any definition and an insult to the constitutionally sanctioned due process. Article 50 of the Constitution provides that every person is to be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved. The officer who shot Kimani turned himself into a five-in-one: arresting officer, investigator, prosecutor, magistrate and hangman. The use of firearms by the police is regulated by law - they do not have a blank cheque to end life. The Sixth Schedule of the National Police Service Act is instructive. Part B of this Schedule at Paragraph 1 states: 
“Firearms may ONLY be used when less extreme means are inadequate and for the following purposes:

(a) saving or protecting the life of the officer or other person; and

(b) in self-defence or in defence of other person against imminent threat of life or serious injury.

The above conditions were NOT present in this case as the deceased was not armed and had not threatened the life of the officer or any other person. There were certainly other less extreme means of arresting him. It is therefore not rocket science to deduce that the shooting to death of Kenneth Kimani was extra-judicial. The police officer single handedly pronounced a death sentence on him and denied him the benefit of due process in law. Police brutality and impunity has no place in a new Kenya under a modern and progressive Bill of Rights in the Constitution. Human life is sacrosanct; the responsible police officer must and will be brought to account. Rest in Peace Kenneth ‘Modo’ Kimani. -Coming from an Advocate.-