Who will save us from Police Harasment and Extortion?

[kikolyo]

This is my personal experience in the hands of the police in mutomo, kitui south on the friday of 25th, september 2009, i was getting out of my place of residence in mutomo market, at around 7.20 pm on my way to school for an evening remedial class. Just at the corridor of the plot, somebody shone a bright spotlight onto my eyes. I shouted back at the offender:,” what do you think you are doing?”. Immediately, two men walked towards me whom i realized were police officers menza and police officer ojwan’g whom i’ve known for quite sometime. Without any introduction or greetings, these officers pushed me off my bike and ordered me to go with them. They didn’t tell me to where! i resisted, telling them i need to know where they are taking me and why. They told me i don’t go shouting at everybody. I tried to explain to them that i shouted at the person who shone the spotlight to my face and not to police officers but they would hear none of it. After a few minutes of struggling with them, i called out to my sister in law with whom we stay in the same premises. She came out with her son, my six year old nephew, another sister in law and a colleque teacher. These relatives and a friend witnessed first hand the police officers’ brutality as they were arresting me. Police officer ojwan’g choked me by my leather jacket and threatened to slap me ‘very hard’ if i continued talking instead of going with them. This really puzzled me, given that we are not strangers with these officers and i couldn’t think what my crime was! the officers dragged me all the way to just within a few metres of the police station. All along the way, my in laws and my colleaque teacher were literally pleading with these officers not to lock me up in the police cells. When we stopped in the darkness, just opposite the police station, they explained to me that they would lock me up till the following monday ( 30th) when i would be charged with trying to grab a police officers gun. A lot of stuff was said enough to stress the magnitude of my ‘crime’, like how much i would be fined and how many years i stood to get in jail if convicted. I knew all this was meant to intimidate me. My in laws and my friend were still pleading with the officers to let me go when the ocs walked out of the police station gate. He saw us, stood for a few minutes and went his way. That’s when p.o. Ojwan’g told me: “even the boss has seen us with a suspect, if we let you go, how shall we explain it to him?”. That’s when they asked my friend and in-laws; “how many thousands do you have?”. Because i hadn’t carried any hard cash, my colleaque teacher gave me one thousand shillings which i gave police officer menza so that i don’t spend the weekend at the cells. After that, the police officers let us go. ( if the authorities are interested, this story can be collaborated by my two sisters in law, my colleaque teacher and my nephew anytime.) i suffered considerable injuries as a result of that encounter. I still bear the marks of the choking by p.o. Ojwan’g on my neck. I can’t quantify the emotional trauma that i underwent and that suffered by my in-laws, my colleaque teacher and my little nephew who was crying throughout the sad episode. I hope these two police officers will be made to account for their inhumane actions.