CS Murkomen denies Gachagua's claim of special squad for extrajudicial killings

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has dismissed as false claims by Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua that a police squad has been formed to carry out extrajudicial killings.

Addressing the press on Tuesday, Murkomen stated that he is not aware of such a unit, refuting claims made by some opposition politicians.

"There is no known police squad killing people. At least not in this administration and none that the Cabinet Secretary is aware of," he said.

"It will be unconstitutional and illegal to establish a squad anywhere in Kenya to kill people".

Murkomen stated that all police formations and units in the country are intended to protect Kenyans, not harm them.

His statement comes a week after Gachagua claimed that a killer squad of 101 officers was formed when he still served in the government.

Speaking on July 9, Gachagua claimed the officers were selected from the Administration Police Service (APS) and taken for specialised training.

He alleged that the National Intelligence trained them on abductions, killings and cover-up.

“This squad of 101 people was formed when I was still in government. The officers were recruited from the Administration police unit for special training by NIS on abductions, killings and cover-up,” he claimed.

The former DP spoke on the viral video showing a gun-carrying unit that was hooded with masks that was shooting at protesters at an unknown location on July 7. 

Gachagua stated that the unit was provided with an unmarked Subaru vehicles to deceive people into believing it was officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). 

“A killer squad of 101 was armed with assault rifles and drove in a convoy of unmarked Subarus, shooting and killing innocent protesters aimlessly. This squad in Subarus and hooded and masked against court orders are disguising themselves as DCI, yet they are not,” he said.

“I want to clarify that they have procured Subarus to give the impression that this killer gang is from DCI. The truth of the matter is this has nothing to do with DCI,” Gachagua further claimed.