BY BONIFACE MWANGI
Caroline Mwatha was murdered. Police have presented their version of what transpired and identified the murder suspects, yet many questions still beg for an answer.
We don’t know how she ended up in the clinic, for example. Did she walk there by herself? Was she threatened, or coerced to go to that clinic? To date, her phone is still missing.
A human rights defender, Caroline Mwatha, spoke for the voiceless. The very ones on the receiving end of police violations. As a founding member of Dandora Social Justice, she defended the rights of young people who were subjected to constant police harassment, arbitrary arrests, extortion, trumped-up charges and even extra-judicial killings.
It is not lost on us that the people who celebrated Caroline’s death are the police hit squad, nicknamed “Hessy”. Hessy isn’t an individual, but a bunch of sadistic police officers who routinely execute suspects in Eastlands every other day.
After Caroline’s body was found, they did a long post on Facebook. In October 2018, Kenya Police executed 11 people in Dandora and in November, more young people were shot dead. Since December, however, not a single person has been executed by police in Dandora.
This is no miracle. It’s as a direct result of Caroline Mwatha’s, and the Dandora Social Justice Team’s, tireless unselfish efforts in exposing extra-judicial killings.