Investigative journalist Moses Dola has drawn parallels between the abduction of The Standard journalist Alex Kiprotich and Kenya’s troubled history of clandestine police units accused of carrying out disappearances, killings and operations targeting government critics.
In a lengthy reflection, Dola revisited the activities of the former Special Crimes Prevention Unit (SCPU), saying the events surrounding Kiprotich had brought back memories of a secretive security structure that operated more than a decade ago.
Dola recalled the 2009 killing of Bernard Kiriinya, a police driver attached to the SCPU who, according to the journalist, had become aware of the brutality allegedly perpetrated by some members of the unit.
“In 2009, Bernard Kiriinya, a police driver, was executed by his fellow officers in a case that has since gone cold to date,” Dola wrote.
He said he had met Kiriinya and several of his colleagues while working at Nation Media Group, describing the SCPU as a feared unit whose officers were allegedly involved in targeting suspects and perceived critics of the State.
“This was a unit that never wasted fuel. They'd park at the Buruburu police canteen playing draft/checkers awaiting for the next target,” Dola recalled.
According to Dola, the unit was commanded by Zebedeo Maina, popularly known as Eagle 1, whom he described as a powerful and feared officer.
“This man was bad news. He would storm a media house asking why a particular story had been carried out,” he stated.
Dola also recalled Kiriinya’s alleged revelations about the unit's operations during a period when former United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, was investigating killings in Kenya.
“In a chilling camera confession, Kiriinya outlined at least 58 incidents in which his colleagues had killed suspected gangsters they had kidnapped and dumped their bodies across several sites in and beyond Nairobi like Clayworks and Ngong Forest,” Dola wrote.
He said Kiriinya claimed officers had used weapons and tools to make killings appear to be gang-related.
“At one point Zebedeo and his team bought pangas, saws, ropes, hammers and axes with which they'd kill their victims and make it look like a gang rivalry,” Dola stated.
The journalist further quoted Kiriinya as saying: “We (the unit) are untouchables and report only to our boss who then reports to someone high up.”
Dola said Kiriinya later became a victim after supposedly becoming a threat to the unit’s secrets.
“But in an unwritten law and code of the same unit; those perceived to be a danger to their internal secrets were marked for elimination as happened to Kiriinya along the Waiyaki Way,” he wrote.
He recalled arriving at the scene with cameraman James Njuguna Mwaura after receiving information about a shootout.
“I quickly geared up alongside my favourite cameraman James Njuguna Mwaura and visited the scene only to find Kiriinya sprawled on the tarmac and long dead,” Dola recalled.
Dola also recounted the 2013 killing of Zebedeo Maina in Kitui, saying questions surrounding the circumstances of his death were never fully resolved.
He now says the history of the SCPU should inform scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding Kiprotich’s abduction.
“These events, although they happened over 15 years ago starting with Kiriinya's killing are not isolated from the events around the kidnapping of Alex Kiprotich,” Dola wrote.
“The events point to the existence of a well-cushioned police unit; answerable to someone high up in government.”
Dola also raised questions about the reported existence and operations of the Operation Support Unit (OSU), claiming its command and operations are linked to a retired police officer.
“Perhaps it will take another ‘Kiriinya’ to spill the beans on the happenings within these clandestine police units,” he stated.
His comments add to growing scrutiny surrounding the circumstances of Kiprotich’s abduction and questions about who was behind his disappearance, particularly given his work as a journalist.
Dola, an investigative journalist and human rights defender, argued that Kenya's previous experience with secretive security operations should not be ignored when examining contemporary cases involving journalists and government critics.