Another troubling incident has pushed the Kenyan police back into public focus after a single mother in Nairobi’s Lunga Lunga area accused officers of violently assaulting her in front of her baby.
Caroline Achieng says the attack happened at around 10 p.m. on Sunday, June 22, while she was walking home after finishing her shift as a bar attendant.
According to her, four men dressed in police uniforms and carrying guns stopped her near the Lunga Lunga bridge and demanded to know where she was going.
Achieng explained that she was heading home from work, but one of the men reportedly told her not to teach them how to do their job.
Without warning, the men began beating her, kicking and hitting her as her 10-month-old baby watched in fear.
The attack left her physically and emotionally wounded. She says she had no strength to fight back and could only try to protect her child during the violent assault. Once the men left, she managed to get to Mukuru kwa Ruben Police Station to report the incident.
However, she claims the officers there did not take her seriously. Instead of helping, they dismissed her report and told her the attackers were likely just criminals who had bought police uniforms from Gikomba.
One officer even warned her that making an official complaint could bring her serious consequences.
This shocking event happened just days before the June 25 nationwide protests that were meant to honor young people who died during the 2024 anti-Finance Bill demonstrations.
Those protests were also marked by aggressive police crackdowns and rising concerns about the use of force by law enforcement.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights recently released a preliminary report highlighting several cases of police brutality, illegal arrests, and excessive use of power.
Now, human rights activists are calling for an immediate independent investigation into what happened to Achieng and many others. They say it’s not enough to issue statements or shift blame to fake uniforms and criminals.
For too long, people have been suffering at the hands of those who are supposed to protect them. Achieng’s story is just one of many, but it shows the kind of fear and pain that victims are going through, often with no support or justice.
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