Police Brutality and the Rising Insecurity in Eastleigh, Nairobi

A street in Eastleigh, the Somali quarter of Nairobi.

After the invasion Al Shabaab vowed to attack Kenya. Al Shabaab has made real of its threats and so far has carried out strings of explosions in many parts of Kenya especially in the city and in the northern town of Garissa. In the city most of the attacks have so far occured in Eastleigh, a pre-dominantly Somali residential and commercial estate. Police response to the attacks in Eastleigh has been criticized by many quarters. They have been accused of heavy handedness and targeting the innocent on the streets instead of carrying out genuine investigations and apprehending the criminals.

The rates of occurrence of these explosions have shocked many people. Since 24th October 2011, when the first grenade attack happened in a bar in down town Nairobi, explosions have become the norm. However, in the recent months many of these blasts have occurred in Eastleigh. Most of these blasts occur in the evenings where the perpetrators hide in the darkness and attack innocent civilians busy in their daily chores.

In the month of November 2012 alone, three explosions that left at least 14 people dead rocked Eastleigh. The worst of these was in which an explosion went off in a minibus full of passengers killing at least 10 and injuring 30.

The prevailing state attacks and blasts in the city, especially in Eastleigh and the apparent sluggish response by security agencies is causing great concern nationally and many fear the rising insecurity threatens to polarize the country.

The area Member of Parliament (MP), Yusuf Hassan, was among those injured in one of these attacks. On December 7, a grenade was hurled at him and others as he walked out of Al Hidaya Mosque after evening prayers. The incident killed three and injured the MP and several others.

One condemns these terrorist acts that have so far taken many innocent lives but, one needs to equally condemn the kind of police response that these explosions have attracted. Kenya’s police force has always been accused of impunity, excessive use of force and brutality, disregard for human rights, abuse of due process and malignant corruption whenever they respond.

Police brutality has indiscriminately been felt by members of the Somali community whether of Kenyan nationality or Somali refugees. On 8th December, 2012, a day after the MP was injured, Police carried out house to house raid flashing out members of the Somali community. Many Somalis, many of them Somali refugees who were in the city illegally, and some others who were here legally and were holding Alien Cards were put behind bars. Most of them were taken to Shauri Moyo and Pangani police stations. Some were released, after parting with bribe and others were taken to court.

Owliya Adan, a resident of Eastleigh Section One area, says police searched every apartment in the seven storeys building that she has rented an apartment. Owliya says many of the inhabitants who did not have Kenyan identification cards were nabbed and taken to jail and only those few who could pay the bribe in time were spared.

Binto Muhumed, a Kenyan Somali and a resident of Eastleigh, says the police brutality is forcing many Somalis to flee the city and “self- repatriate” themselves to their still unstable country, Somalia. “Many of my neighbors are planning to leave soon and some have already left,” Binto says. Recently, Kenya’s Internal security Permanent Secretary Mutea Iringo in a press conference told reporters that most Somali refugees were roaming in the country instead of being at the refugee camps where they areregistered and also blamed them for the insecurity situation.“Some of the suspects arrested are refugees who have their way from the refugee camps to here, and we will conduct countrywide operations to ensure all refugees are taken back to Dadaab,” Iringo said. However, some Somali nationals see they rather go back to Somalia than the refugee camps where life is unbearable and the insecurity levels and police harassments are even higher.

The irony is, the same government that wants these refugees to go back to the camps, “where they apparently belong” issues Alien Cards to facilitate their movement within the country and arrests them when they produce the same cards. This creates a scenario of a government refusing to recognize its own legal documents.

Incidents of police robberies have also been reported in Eastleigh. When the policemen who were to safeguard the security and peace of the people turn robbers then everything is not well and one wonders where the people will turn to. The day after the area MP was injured in one of the blasts in Eastleigh, General Service Unit (GSU) police raided the estate and conducted house to house search and several robberies with violence by police were reported.

Musa Abdi Diriye, a shop owner and a resident of Eastleigh Section 3 Sewage area claims GSU policemen robbed him cash worth Kenya Shillings 500,000. Musa says he was taking the money to his creditors on the morning of 8th December 2012, when suddenly he bumped into a group of GSU Policemen near Joster Supermarket. The policemen who were armed with “rungus” (big sticks) and carried tear gas canisters beat him hard. When he fell onto the ground, five of the policemen searched all his pockets and robbed him of his cash. Musa says him and others were later “thrown” into a police truck and were taken to Shauri Moyo Police Station where he bought his freedom back by paying a bribe. Unfortunately to the same police that robbed him of his hard earned cash.

So what is the way forward?Members of the Somali community should not be seen as the enemy and should be included in community policing activities. The proposed police reforms needs to be speeded up to turn the Police from a force into a Service. The police should stop being reactive and instead be active. They should always be on the lookout for criminals before they commit the crime and stop nabbing innocent civilians on the streets after an incident has happened. Thousands of Kenyans depend on the Somali businesses employing many locals as cleaners, security guards, domestic workers, plumbers, technicians, taxi drivers etc. Somali businesses also pay taxes to the government. The Kenyan government needs to protect Somali investors and their businesses as it does to any other investors.