Prime Cabinet Secretary and Cabinet Secretary for Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, Musalia Mudavadi has defended Kenya’s human rights record and the integrity of the police service, in response to an assertion by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, which had raised concerns over the violation of human rights by Kenya’s security agents
Speaking Wednesday, when he represented Kenya at the 44th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU) in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, Mudavadi asserted that police brutality and excessive force do not occur in Kenya.
He affirmed that any aggrieved citizen can report any allegations of police excesses to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), which was established under the transformative 2010 Constitution to investigate such impunity and hold individual police officers accountable, including through prosecution.
“I emphasized our government’s unwavering commitment to supporting civilian oversight of police work and ensuring zero tolerance to police brutality and excessive force,” Mudavadi said.
Established in 1986 and located in Banjul, The Gambia, the commission hears cases from the 53 Member States of the African Union (all except South Sudan). It is tasked with promoting and protecting human rights by interpreting the African Charter and considering individual complaints.
Mudavadi also acknowledged Kenya’s appreciation of the initiatives undertaken by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights as he highlighted Kenya’s alignment with the mandate, including through its commitment to end statelessness and commuting death sentences to life imprisonment.
