Migori county commissioner refutes KNCHR claims

Migori County security committee has differed with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) on claims that two people were shot dead by police in the area.

The committee said they had not seen the dead bodies the commission was referring to.

"We have done investigations and there is nothing like that. Nobody has been killed in Migor  since the onset of the post poll chaos," said Joseph Rotich, the county commissioner.

He said  police officers have opened up roads leading into and out the county, that had been barricaded by the protesting youths.

Accompanied  by the county police commandant Joseph Nthenge and the CID chief Benedict  Kigen, Mr Rotich called for calm  saying the chaos had  greatly affected  the local economy.

Migori town was on Sunday calm although most shops  remained closed.

The KNCHR claimed it had evidence of 24 deaths in election-related incidents since the August 8 voting day.

“We are concerned about the use of excessive force and we ask the Independent Policing Oversight Authority and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions to investigate these killings with a view to bringing the culprits to book,” Ms Kagwiria Mbogori, KNCHR chairperson, told a press briefing on Saturday.

KNCHR said their monitors reported 17 deaths in Nairobi, two in Siaya and Migori counties, one each in Homa Bay, and another in Kisumu.

But the Multi-Sectoral Forum, a grouping of religious leaders drawn from various faiths, put the figure of the dead at 18.