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IPOA report exposes deaths and police cover-up in Kenyan protests
Tension was high at the Roysambu roundabout, where police lobbed tear gas canisters in an attempt to disperse a crowd of young people trying to find their way to the CBD to participate in the nationwide protest on July 25, 2025.
At least 65 lives were lost, 41 of them to bullets fired by police officers- even as 342 civilians got injured sustaining grievous wounds during the June 25 and July 7 protests, a new report by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (Ipoa) has shown.
In total, over 90 people were shot, some in the chest, abdomen and even on the head. Despite the whopping number of deaths, Ipoa lamented the underreporting by the National Police Service, which only gave them a report of five out of the 65 deaths.
The deliberate underreporting, Ipoa said, not only violates oversight obligations but points to a troubling institutional instinct to cover up rather than come clean. The Authority had to attend 61 autopsies independently to verify the causes of death.
Face mask vendor Boniface Kariuki is rushed to hospital by protesters after he was shot by a police officer in Nairobi on June 17, 2025.
Such concealment, the Oversight body noted, undermines justice and fuels the perception that Kenyan law enforcement operates above the law.
These are among the findings outlined in Ipoa’s July 2025 survey dubbed “Monitoring Report on Police Response to Public Protests between June and July 2025”.
The details of the document go beyond the counting of casualties, as it also revealed structural failures in how the state managed dissent.
It documented a series of critical breakdowns that turned public demonstrations into deadly flashpoints and painted a troubling picture of a policing system in crisis.
Foremost among them was the indiscriminate use of force. Despite Article 37 of the Constitution guaranteeing the right to peaceful assembly, police routinely treated lawful protests as riots. From the very onset, officers were observed deploying teargas, water cannons, rubber bullets, and in many cases, live ammunition against mostly unarmed demonstrators.
“The response was not calibrated to the nature of the protest; it was confrontational, disproportionate, and in many cases, lethal,” the report noted.
Officers, despite a court order directing them to be in full uniform with identification material, still operated without visible service numbers. Many wore balaclavas.
Police vehicles moved through crowds without markings. In effect, the people tasked with enforcing the law became faceless agents, untraceable and unaccountable.
This anonymity, which directly contravenes CAP 84 of Kenyan law, meant victims of police brutality had little recourse to identify or report those who harmed them. Even more alarming was the complete absence of medical facilitation.
Ipoa found no police ambulances or medical responders deployed alongside enforcement units, despite clear provisions in the National Police Service Act requiring medical support during crowd control operations.
Injured protesters were left to the mercy of onlookers and overwhelmed hospitals, many of which were ill-equipped to handle the sudden influx of emergency cases.
Even police officers who sustained injuries had no structured medical support during operations.
A Kenya Prisons officer receives first aid from Red Cross medics after being injured during protests in Kitengela town on July 7, 2025.
In many counties, protest organisers submitted formal notifications as required under the Public Order Act. Yet Ipoa documented multiple instances where commanding officers flatly refused to receive them.
This deliberate disengagement, the Authority noted, created legal ambiguity, allowing the police to label protests illegal and act without prior coordination.
Furthermore, the Act itself offers no clarity on how to respond to spontaneous or counter-protests, leaving enforcement to improvisation and political discretion.
Though deployed to quell the protests, the welfare of officers was grossly neglected. Police were deployed for long shifts with no food, water, or allowances. The report established that many were fatigued, frustrated, and operating under extremely difficult conditions.
Without adequate support, law enforcement officers were more likely to respond with aggression rather than professionalism.
This systemic failure, the report warns, fed into a cycle of confrontation and violence.
These are some of the critical gaps that shaped the tragedy that unfolded across Kenya between June and July, which was initially sparked by the suspicious death of Albert Ojwang’ in police custody.
Teacher Albert Ojwang who mysteriously died in a police cell.
His death became a rallying point for young Kenyans, who had already been growing restless over joblessness, poor governance, corruption, and a political system that seemed increasingly deaf to public concern.
What began as a call for justice became a national outcry with youth-led movements being mobilised in Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru, Meru, and Embu. Civil society organisations joined in.
Some protests were spontaneous, others coordinated. But in nearly all instances, the state response was uniform; show of force, dispersal, denial and the cost was devastating.
Among the 342 civilians injured, more than 90 sustained gunshot wounds, some of which were life-altering.
Ipoa confirms that most of the injuries were suffered by young men, some barely out of their teenage years. Many sustained injuries to vital parts of the body, including the chest, abdomen, and head.
Others suffered blunt force trauma, broken limbs, and head injuries from batons and boots. Some remain hospitalised, paralysed, or permanently maimed.
While civilians bore the greatest brunt, officers also suffered. Ipoa documented 171 police injuries during confrontations with protesters and counter-protesters. In Laikipia, Nyeri, Kiambu, Nairobi, and Nakuru, officers came under attack from stone-throwing crowds and rogue elements who took advantage of the chaos to incite destruction.
Police vehicles were torched. Fences and barriers were brought down even as businesses and traders hired private youth to “protect” their premises, creating further tension and violent clashes between rival groups. But even in these circumstances, Ipoa stresses that the scale and consistency of police violence against civilians cannot be justified as self-defence.
The physical damage was as severe as the human toll. Police stations in Kirinyaga, Nairobi, and Nyandarua were damaged or set on fire. Over 30 police vehicles were vandalised, windows smashed, tires slashed, and engines destroyed. Banks, public offices, and even medical facilities were not spared.
Kitengela Sub County Hospital was infiltrated by police chasing demonstrators, exposing patients to teargas and endangering critical care. A makeshift treatment camp at Jamia Mosque had to be shut down due to persistent police intrusion.
In towns like Embu and Meru, supermarkets such as Naivas, Magunas, and Elimatt were looted. Hotels, cyber cafes, and small shops were vandalised.
“Much of the looting occurred amid confusion and a breakdown of crowd control, not simply acts of planned criminality,” the report stated.
To rectify the wrongs and do better in the event of future protests, the authority has proposed a comprehensive reform agenda.
It recommends equipping police with body-worn cameras to increase accountability, mandating proper identification for all officers and vehicles involved in public order operations, deploying medical responders alongside enforcement units, and fostering proactive engagement with protest organisers to reduce tensions.
It also calls for the operationalisation of County Policing Authorities to enhance local-level accountability and for a robust civic education campaign to ensure citizens and law enforcement alike understand their rights and responsibilities.
Most urgently, IPOA is advocating for a national Public Order Management Policy to harmonise responses across all counties and prevent ad hoc, unlawful enforcement.
