Kenya’s under-fire police promised on Sunday to conduct a “transparent” inquiry following the horrifying discovery of eight mutilated female remains dumped at a Nairobi waste dump.
However, tensions were high at the crime site in the Mukuru slum in the south of Kenya’s capital, where police temporarily shot tear gas to disperse a mob of irate residents.
In their probe into the macabre drama that has terrified and infuriated the nation, police commanders said they were looking for links to cults, serial killers, and rogue medical practitioners.
The maimed and dismembered bodies, trussed up in plastic bags, were pulled from a sea of floating trash in an abandoned quarry in Mukuru.
The revelations have shone new light on Kenyan police and increased pressure on President William Ruto, who is attempting to handle a crisis sparked by large anti-government rallies that have killed scores of protestors.
Acting national police head Douglas Kanja stated that six corpses were discovered in Mukuru on Friday and further body parts were recovered on Saturday, with early investigations suggesting that all were female.
“They were severely dismembered in various stages of decomposition and left in sacks,” Kanja said at a press conference, calling it a “heinous act.”
He stated that police were dedicated to conducting “transparent, thorough, and swift investigations,” and that they hoped to complete their inquiries within 21 days.
Kanja, who was appointed only on Friday in the aftermath of last month’s protest carnage, also stated that all officers at the police station near the quarry had been relocated.
– Police watchdog probe –
Kenya’s police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), on Friday had said it was investigating whether there was any police involvement in the dumped bodies, noting that the dumpsite was just 100 metres (yards) from the police post.
The IPOA also stated that it was investigating allegations of abductions of demonstrators who went missing following last month’s events.
However, it made no mention of the missing people or the bodies that had been deposited.
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