Rights body praises "positive step" for detainees

The Kenya Human Rights Comission (KHRC) has called the arrest of five police officers in connection with the death of a man in custody at a Kenyan police station a "positive step" in efforts to protect the rights of detainees.

"It is a positive step, but we hope they [the government] will concretise it in policy," Mikewa Ogada, a programme officer with the Nairobi-based KHRC, told IRIN on Wednesday.

Paul Kimani Wamburi was arrested on 18 March and allegedly tortured and killed while in custody at the Mweiga police station in Nyeri, central Kenya, and the body dumped on the roadside, according to local media reports.

Ogada said that although the government had signed international conventions against torture and acted on specific extreme cases, there were no policies specifically targeting torture as a human rights violation in the country.

"There is usually a lot of rhetoric coming from these [government] people, and they respond to only specific cases. But there is no specific policy in place to deal with the problem," Mikewa Ogada, a programme officer with the Nairobi-based KHRC, told IRIN on Wednesday.

Ogada's remarks followed reports in the local media which cited a directive to the police by Amos Wako, Kenya's attorney-general, to "refrain from torturing" suspects in custody. Wako also instructed senior police officers to ensure that all detainees were protected, as they had a right to life, and warned that "the government would not spare" police officers who subjected suspects to torture, the East African Standard said.

Meanwhile, a new bill seeking to put in place a legal body to investigate human rights violations, including torture, is currently being debated in parliament. If passed into law, the bill would facilitate the setting up of the Kenyan National Commission for Human Rights (KNCHR) to replace the existing Standing Committee on Human Rights (SCHR). The SCHR was set up in 1995 by a presidential decree to investigate alleged complaints of violations of fundamental rights and freedoms, as well as to educate the public to be aware of its rights.

A senior official at the SCHR told IRIN on Wednesday that the new bill could pave the way for a more independent and autonomous body which would have powers, not only to investigate human rights violations, but also have the legal standing to prosecute the perpetrators, which the SCHR is currently unable to do.

The committee, as it stands, can only investigate claims, and submit its findings to the president, according to the SCHR official. "Currently, the power of the SCHR is extremely weak. We do not have a legal standing...we lean too much on the attorney-general's office," he said.

KHRC has expressed concern that some crucial provisions of the new bill do not entirely reflect the national consensus reached by stakeholders prior to its drafting.

According to the local human rights watchdog, the new bill has "betrayed" a number of initial agreements that would guarantee the independence of the new commission. "The [parliamentary Justice and Legal Affairs] committee should not allow the government to revert to its inwardness after making concessions to all stakeholders," the KHRC said in a petition it presented to parliament on 11 September 2001.

On 14 March, the body reiterated its call to amend sections of the bill which it deemed to be a threat to the independence of the new commission.

"It has been assumed by all Kenyans that soon the National Commission on Human Rights will be a proud feature of the new constitution. Meanwhile, we are all agreed to secure its autonomy and independence through an Act of parliament simply as a tentative measure. Viewed within this history and framework, we must urge this committee to restore and improve upon the national consensus that has been betrayed in some crucial provisions in the current Bill before parliament," KHRC said.

During a parliamentary debate on Tuesday, a number of members expressed concern that many Kenyans continued to be ignorant of their rights, and remained silent when these were violated even by government agents, the Daily Nation reported on Wednesday.

An opposition MP, Kiraitu Murungi, of South Imenti, eastern Kenya, told parliament that the country needed a vibrant human rights commission which could fight "with tenacity" for the human rights of Kenyans "in the knowledge that the majority of people in the country were unaware of their rights".

"The biggest problem in this country is that people are still living in psychological bondage. Many still have the colonial and single-party mentality," the paper quoted Murungi as saying. "We want a commission that is innovative and creative in the promotion of human rights. We do not want a repeat of the current situation where the president is the guarantor and protector of Kenyans' human rights," he said.