LEADING human rights organisations have renewed calls for investigations into the killing of protesters by Kenya’s security forces during demonstrations against a rise in taxes last June.
It follows a BBC Africa Eye investigation, exposing members of the security forces who shot dead three protesters at Kenya’s parliament, igniting public outrage and demands for justice.
Amnesty International and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) said the officers identified in the documentary should “face the law”.
Kenya’s government spokesman has responded by saying “every life is important”, the police watchdog is conducting an investigation and criticised the BBC documentary for being “one-sided”.
“Those who did the documentary should have sought government opinion… so that they can be fair and balanced,” Isaac Mwaura said.
“For example, they show the parliament being burnt, but they don’t show who is doing it; they seem to minimise the vandalisation that happened in parliament.”
He admitted the protesters had legitimate concerns about the finance bill but said: “We cannot have a country that also is led through anarchy and mayhem.”
The BBC had asked the government to take part in the documentary.
It was briefly discussed in Kenya’s parliament on Tuesday when MP John Kiarie accused the BBC of “pushing a foreign agenda”, while another MP, Millie Odhiambo, said the government and parliament should deal with the aftermath of the protests “soberly”, without gagging the media.
“The BBC documentary has created more anger among young people… You can’t stop the media,” Odhiambo said.
In response to the documentary before it was aired, the police service said the force could not investigate itself, adding that Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) was responsible for investigating alleged misconduct.
The Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) told the BBC the IPOA had not forwarded any request to look into any of its personnel involved in the operations at parliament.
BBC Africa Eye’s Blood Parliament documentary revealed how security forces brutally responded to youthful protesters who breached Kenya’s parliament on 25 June 2024, the day lawmakers voted to approve the proposed tax hikes.
The controversial finance bill was aimed at raising $2.7bn (£2bn) the government said it needed to cut its reliance on external borrowing – but had sparked widespread.
Using open-source data and user-generated content, the BBC’s analysis of more than 5,000 images identified uniformed security personnel – a policeman and solider – who opened fire killing three unarmed protesters at parliament.