Renson Mwakandana
An elite police squad that has reportedly been involved in extrajudicial executions in Kenya in recent years has been abolished by President William Ruto.
The president, who took office in September, claimed the action was a component of attempts to reform the nation’s security industry.
“I am the one who ordered the Special Service Unit that was carrying out extrajudicial executions to be abolished,” he declared before a church audience on Sunday.
“We have a plan on how to secure this country so that we avoid the shame of Kenyans killed [elsewhere and bodies dumped] in Yala River and others. We are going to change this country for the better,” he added.
The dissolution of the team, according to Daily Nation newspaper, a local newspaper, was “precipitated” by an investigative report on the disappearance of two Indian citizens, Zulfiqar Ahmad Khan and Zaid Kidwai and their local taxi driver.
The two Indians arrived in Kenya in April to support Ruto’s campaign ahead of the general election in August, but they vanished along with their Kenyan taxi driver three months later, according to the newspaper.
It was discovered in January that at least 19 unidentified remains in various states of decomposition had been pulled from the Yala River during the previous two years. There is no proof that the security personnel were involved in any way with the Yala corpses.
