Brief Report on police and government violations in Mathare, Nairobi

This report is produced as part of Mathare Social Justice Centre’s (MSJC) campaign to ‘Stop Extra-judicial Killings’ in Mathare and Nairobi environs. This campaign has both a practical and participatory action research component. As part of our research we document ongoing violations by the police and other security agencies in Mathare. We do this to provide data for Mathare Social Justice Centre, Bunge la Mwananchi social movement and other grassroots activists who are conducting work on the gross human rights violations in Mathare Constituency, and in Nairobi as a whole.

Extra-judicial killings, disappearances and politically motivated detentions are being used by the Jubilee regime in Kenya to instil fear and frustrate human rights defenders and social justice activists. This is illustrated by the level of illegal arrests and extra-judicial killings that are ongoing, and that have seen a sharp increase in Mathare. Many activists who document cases of extra-judicial killings are becoming victims of trumped up criminal charges that are intended to criminalize their grassroots struggles and advocacy for social justice. Below is a snapshot of the grave violations by these security agencies that we are following up, documenting and working to stop.

ILLEGAL DETENTIONS AND POLICE HARASSMENT: THE CASE OF HURUMA CAR WASH.

Car wash staff, boda-boda riders and hand cart pullers are facing blatant human rights violations and police brutality. Often they are illegally detained at Huruma police station. When this happens they have to pay Ksh 1000 to be released, and if they don’t pay this amount they are victimized and detained under malicious charges such as robbery or theft. When they are in the police station they are also subject to torture and ill-treatment in an attempt to force them to confess to criminal activity, or retract legitimate grievances of human rights violations against the said police stations. They report this frequently to members of Mathare Social Justice Center (MSJC), Bunge La Mwananchi and Bunge Mashinani in Kiamaiko.

EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS: THE CASE OF STEPHEN GICHURU

These occur in an ongoing manner. One of the most recent cases of these killings was that of a minor; Stephen Gichuru (17). Stephen was an adolescent boy living in Kiamaiko, Nairobi. He was the brother in law to human rights defender Ruth Mumbi. He was killed on 17th May 2015 at 8 am as he was on his way for his morning tea. Here are more details of his case, and here is a video statement that his brother made about his murder and the subsequent arrest of his family members. His father died suddenly soon after Stephen was buried, likely from shock and grief as a result of the murder of his son.

Various initiatives have been undertaken to fully document and seek accountability for these killings in Mathare. Mathare Social Justice Centre with the support of Bunge la Mwananchi and other community members organized a ‘Mathare Youth Dialogue on Extra-judicial Killings’ and you can access a brief report on that that here. Over a hundred community members from all of Mathare’s six wards came to chart the way forward; discussing collective actions to stop these killings. We will be organizing subsequent events in other wards, and it is likely the second such event will be in Huruma. We are also increasingly gathering data on the extent of these violations.

ILLEGAL EVICTIONS: THE CASE OF KAMBI MOTO

Residents of Kambi Moto, Kiamaiko Ward are being illegally evicted by private developers, many of whom are known to be landlords. It is alleged that they are being evicted so that they will not benefit from a right to housing scheme that was started by Nairobi City Council, Akiba Mashinani and Pamoja Trust. Initially many residents were participating in a slum upgrading project that was part of Muungano wa Wanavijiji in Kambi Moto -- a cooperative savings scheme that brought together tenants and structures owners to build affordable cement homes. Currently this project has stopped and is engulfed in a lot of problems. This has been the case for the last 2-3 years.

John Theuri and Esther Njeri, together with other 20 residents, are facing threats of eviction from their homes. It is said that the private developers and corrupt structures owners have come together and are trying to sell the land (or may have already sold it). This is land that they have lived on all of their life and were in fact born on. These structure owners and developers are evicting these residents to benefit from any subsequent housing scheme that will come and buy the land (they may have insider information on this); this way they will benefit as both land owners and tenants. They have enlisted various police and local government officials to threaten these Kambi Moto residents.

Report by Gacheke Gachihi, Kennedy Chidi (Jatha) Wangui Kimari, Julie Wanjira & Muchangi Nyaga of Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) and Bunge La Mwananchi

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