President Uhuru Kenyatta blamed for siding with the faulted police killings

A section of leaders have faulted President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto for their long silence in the face of police killings and enforced disappearances of youth in the Coast region. Chairman of the National Muslim Leaders Forum Abdullahi Abdi said by remaining silent, the President and the entire Executive arm of government may be sending the wrong signal that they are okay with the police policy of killing youths in the name of fighting insecurity and terrorism. "The President and his Deputy need to speak out unequivocally against the extrajudicial killings of youths in the Coast and other parts of this country. This would send a strong signal against this unofficial policy in the police," he said. He added: "By remaining silent, the President is guilty of omission since silence from the top policy makers is interpreted by police and Kenyans as indirect support for such a counter-productive policy." Although the National Police Service Commission is granted operational independence by the Constitution, the Executive arm of government has authority to set policies for the police. "The efforts to reform the police and end their impunity in using their guns is not moving forward because the top policy makers including the President are not speaking out strongly for it, " he said.
On his part, Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims Deputy Secretary General Hassan Ole Naado said that efforts to engage the government to put an end to extra-judicial killings and disappearances of youths have not yielded fruit. "We have repeatedly proposed a policy of government agencies engaging local communities in the coast to help isolate a few criminal elements who may be perpetrating the vice. But most of the killings of the youths have no justification. Police are killing people and falsely labelling them as dangerous terror suspects," he said. He cited the recent police killing of Idris Ahmed, in Mombasa in front of his mother and his family members, despite surrendering to the police. He also cited the killing of the 14 year old girl in Kwale by police who then "manufactured" the claim that the girl wanted to kill them with a machete. He added: "Such a policy of killings only heightens disharmony and fuels further the appeal of criminal groups like Al Shabaab to the youths in the region. Police are seriously mishandling the fight against insecurity and making things worse."