Kisauni residents live in fear over rising insecurity, vigilante killings
Marietta Mnyazi during an interview with the Nation. Her 20-year-old son died as she watched after he was lynched by a mob in Kisauni on October 6, 2018. PHOTO | WACHIRA MWANGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
Haki Africa civil rights group accused the police of being behind the Sungu Sungu, claiming that members of the group are well known by the security establishment.
Rising cases of insecurity, together with a spate of killings of innocent people mistaken for criminals by vigilante groups, have shaken Kisauni residents in Mombasa and who are now demanding for police action.
The mob-justice type killings, instigated by an overzealous public taking the law into their hands and often backed by vigilante groups, have so far claimed the lives of five people, among them university and secondary school students in the past one week.
KILLED
The latest incident happened on Tuesday night when a boda boda rider was lynched over theft claims in Bamburi. Four other people were similarly killed on Saturday and Monday.
James Akunava, a Form Four student and his friend only identified as Sally who was a church cameraman were killed on Saturday while Samuel Odemba a University of Nairobi Mombasa campus student together with his cousin Kennedy Omondi were torched on Monday.
Photos of Samuel Odemba, 26, and his cousin Kennedy Onyango, 24. The two men who were beaten to death by boda boda riders on claims that the had stolen a motorcycle early Monday morning. PHOTO | WACHIRA MWANGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
The trend has elicited fear among residents with human rights groups accusing the police of failing to deal with insecurity in the sub county.
Haki Yetu director Gabriel Dolan who is also a resident in the sub-county said failure by the police to tame insecurity has seen the formation of the vigilante groups.
The Sungu Sungu group is suspected to be behind the killings, according to police sources. “People now fear the police, the criminal gangs and the vigilantes. The vigilantes are killing innocent people because police have failed to fulfil their mandate,” said Fr Dolan.
Haki Africa civil rights group accused the police of being behind the Sungu Sungu, claiming that members of the group are well known by the security establishment. Haki Africa executive director Hussein Khalid called on the police to come out and follow on the matter to stop the worrying trend.
Mombasa police commander Johnston Ipara said they have launched a manhunt for members of the vigilante groups and called on the public to refrain from taking the law into their own hands.
Mr Ipara said the Sungu Sungu group is a proscribed organisation and anyone claiming to be a member will be arrested. “We have already sent our officers to go for those claiming to be members of those groups. Police have the capacity to deal with insecurity,” said Mr Ipara.
