NAIROBI: Kenyan police were searching on Saturday through a rubbish dump in a Nairobi slum watched by angry crowds after a number of mutilated bodies were found discarded there in plastic sacks.

Kenya’s police watchdog has said it was investigating whether there is any police involvement in the gruesome discovery on Friday in Mukuru in the south of the capital.

The Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) is also looking into claims of abductions of demonstrators who went missing after widespread anti-government protests.

Kenyan media reports said that more bags containing human remains had been recovered by police from rubbish-strewn waters at a garbage site in an abandoned quarry.

On Friday, police said the severely mutilated bodies of six women tied up in plastic bags were found in the dumpsite, causing shock and anger among locals. The IPOA said later that the remains of at least nine people had been recovered, seven of them female.

“The bodies, wrapped in bags and secured by nylon ropes, had visible marks of torture and mutilation,” it said, noting that the dumpsite was less than 100 metres (yards) from a police station. Kenyan police are already under sharp scrutiny after dozens of people were killed during the demonstrations last month, with rights group accusing officers of using excessive force.

National police chief Japhet Koome, the target of much public anger over the protest deaths, has resigned after less than two years in the post, Kenya’s presidency announced.

He is the latest head to roll as President William Ruto scrambles to contain the worst crisis of his rule, triggered by deeply unpopular proposed tax hikes.

Crowds that gathered on Friday at the dumpsite were chanting “Ruto must go”, the slogan of the wave of protests led by young Gen-Z Kenyans. Kenyan police are feared and face frequent allegations of extrajudicial killings but are seldom convicted.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2024