Hundreds of Garissa residents and local leaders have called for speedy investigations into the killing of a 22-year-old taxi driver at the Modika roadblock yesterday morning by an alleged police officer.
According to the residents, the deceased, Aden Mohamed was called by his two friends; Abdiaziz Dere and Abdullahi Mohamed at around 2am in the morning, after they were arrested and handcuffed by the police officers at the Modika roadblock so that he could help them to be released.
After arriving at the area, it is alleged that an argument ensued between the deceased and a police officer who then shot him in the head at a close range.
When the incident reached Garisa town, the residents took to the streets in the morning and for hours engaged the police in running battles demonstrating over the episode while calling for the arrest of the responsible police officer.
Speaking at the Garissa Police Station, Ali Hassan, an uncle of the deceased expressed his sorrow over how his nephew lost his life at the hands of those who are supposed to protect them, calling for the government to act on rogue security officers.
“We are very saddened that our police officers in Garissa have turned into shifta and started killing Kenyans. We have always known that the police are here to protect civilians, but they are killing us instead,” Hassan mourned.
“This is the third killing incident by police officers in the last few months. A very young man, at only 22 years has had his life cut short without a reason. We are telling the government that this must stop,” he added.
Abdirizak Sirat Noor, a close friend of the deceased eulogized him as a caring friend who would not leave others in trouble and called on the government to handle the matter with the sensitivity it needs to protect the good relationship the people have had with the police in the last few years.
“The government that ought to protect us is killing us. This is not the first case, because there have been several other cases in the recent past,” Noor lamented.
“Our forefathers were not good friends of the police until when President Kibaki took office. If these issues are not addressed by the government, we might go back to those times, when our relationship with police officers were not good,” added Noor.
Garissa Woman Representative, Udgood Siyad, who was joined by a host of Members of the County Assembly, called on the Interior Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, to take stern action against the rogue security agents, bring them to book and restore discipline and dignity in the service.
Udgood at the same time alleged a cover-up by security officials in the County citing the disappearance of the suspected police officer, whose whereabouts at the time of this interview, was still unknown.
“As a mother who has a child the age of the deceased, I will not allow the killing of our young people to continue. We have been told that there is Al-Shabaab in this town, but the police have now turned into Al-Shaabab themselves,” Udgood said.
“We are tired of saying ‘stop killing our people’. If this government is not serious about protecting our lives, then we will stop supporting it and join the opposition,” she threatened.
North Eastern Deputy Regional Police Commander John Matasi, however, refuted cover-up claims, noting that the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) had taken-up the matter for investigations.
“Our officers were on patrol at the Modika area where the young man was shot dead. His body is at the Garissa Referral Hospital mortuary as we wait for a post-mortem to be done,” Matasi said.
“As you all know, when a civilian is shot by a police officer, the matter and investigations are taken over by IPOA and they are on the ground to investigate the incident,” he added.
by Erick Kyalo
