IN a shocking exposé of police cover-ups during Kenya’s “Gen-Z protests,” Reuters reveals how authorities systematically misclassified protest deaths to obscure the true toll of police violence.
The tragic story of 19-year-old Charles Owino crystallizes this deception. Shot in the head during anti-government demonstrations near Nairobi, his death was quietly logged as a “road accident” in morgue records. Reuters’ own photographs capture the haunting scene of Owino’s body on the street, blood splattered near his head, with a rifle-wielding police officer standing nearby.
In a parallel case, Reuters reports that 21-year-old Shaquille Obienge’s death met the same fate – recorded as a traffic accident despite an autopsy revealing he was shot in the neck at close range. Both young men fell during the same protests in Kitengela, a Nairobi suburb.
The news agency’s investigation uncovered a systematic pattern of deception. Three police officers, speaking anonymously to Reuters, confirmed that Kenyan police deliberately mischaracterize deaths as accidents, “mob justice,” or drownings to cover their tracks. This practice appears widespread: Reuters’ review of morgue logbooks found suspiciously few recorded gunshot deaths during the protest period, while deaths attributed to mob violence and drowning suspiciously spiked.
The cover-up extends beyond mere paperwork, Reuters reports. When George Obienge searched for his son Shaquille at the Nairobi morgue, staff initially blocked his entry, insisting all recent deaths were road accidents. The truth emerged only through government autopsies, which revealed the brutal reality behind these sanitized records.
Reuters’ investigation also exposed a shadowy police unit called OAT (Operation Action Team), which reportedly absorbed members of a previously disbanded unit notorious for extrajudicial killings. According to sources who spoke to Reuters, this unit participated in protest crackdowns, including alleged killings and abductions.
The protests, which erupted over tax hikes and political corruption, claimed at least 42 lives according to official figures. However, Reuters reports that Kenya’s National Commission on Human Rights documented 82 cases of enforced disappearances between June and December, with 29 people still unaccounted for.
While President William Ruto has acknowledged “instances of excessive and extrajudicial actions” by security services, Reuters’ investigation suggests the full scope of the violence – and the elaborate efforts to conceal it – may be far greater than officially admitted.
This deeply reported investigation by Reuters pulls back the curtain on one of Kenya’s most significant recent protest movements, revealing not just the brutal response to public dissent, but the institutional machinery deployed to hide it from public view.
