Kenya parliament protests: BBC identifies the security forces who shot at anti-tax protesters

BBC News

28-04-2025

The members of Kenya's security forces who shot dead anti-tax protesters at the country's parliament last June have been identified by the BBC.The BBC's analysis of more than 5,000 images also shows that those killed there were unarmed and not posing a threat.The East African nation's constitution guarantees the right to peaceful protest, and the deaths caused a public outcry.Despite a parliamentary committee ordering Kenya's Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to investigate the deaths on the streets of the capital, Nairobi - and make public its findings - no report regarding the killings at parliament has yet been issued and no-one has been held to account.The BBC World Service team analysed videos and photos taken by protesters and journalists on the day. We determined when each was taken using camera metadata, livestream timings and public clocks visible in the shots.We plotted three of the killings on a 3D reconstruction of Kenya's parliament, allowing us to trace the fatal shots back to the rifles of a police officer and a soldier.What follows is BBC Africa Eye's detailed timeline of events as Kenya's MPs entered parliament for the final vote on the government's controversial finance bill, while protesters amassed on the streets outside on Tuesday 25 June 2024.Warning: This story contains images of dead bodiesYoung people, labelled Gen Z protesters who had mobilised themselves on social media, began streaming into central Nairobi early in the morning - in what would be the capital's third large-scale protest since the finance bill was introduced on 9 May."It was a beautiful party," says prominent human rights activist Boniface Mwangi, who was there."Kids came out with Bluetooth speakers and their water. It was a carnival."
Protests earlier in the week had already led lawmakers to axe tax increases on bread, cooking oil, mobile money and motor vehicles, as well as an eco levy that would have raised the cost of goods like nappies and sanitary towels. But other measures to raise the $2.7bn (£2bn) the government said it needed to cut its reliance on external borrowing, such as higher import taxes and another on specialised hospitals, remained."For the first time it was the Kenyan people - the working class and the middle class and the lower class - against the ruling class," says Mwangi.The protesters had one target - parliament, where the final vote was taking place. By 09:30 local time, the last of the MPs filed into the lower house. Outside, thousands pushed towards Parliament Road from the east, north and west of the city.
"For me, it was just a normal day," says 26-year-old student journalist Ademba Allans. People were livestreaming on their TikTok and Instagram accounts, while events were broadcast live on national TV, he adds.At first, protesters were held back at roadblocks by tear gas and truncheons, then police started using water cannons and rubber bullets.By 13:00, more than 100,000 people were on the streets."The numbers start getting bigger and people actually start getting arrested," says Allans. "The police are everywhere. They're trying to push people back. People are even climbing on top of those water cannons."Despite the growing chaos outside, MPs remained in the chamber and the voting began.By 14:00, protesters had pushed police all the way back to the north-eastern corner of parliament.
Inside at 14:14, the Finance Bill 2024 was voted in: 195 in favour, 106 against. Opposition MPs stormed out and word instantly reached the masses outside."This is when everybody is saying: 'Whatever happens, we are going to enter the parliament and show the MPs that we believe in what we're fighting for,'" says Allans.At 14:20, protesters finally broke through the police blockade and reached the road running alongside parliament. An abandoned police truck stationed outside the gates was set on fire. Fences were torn down and protesters set foot on parliamentary grounds. The incursion was short-lived. Parliamentary security forces quickly cleared them out.At the same time, police officers went back up Parliament Road in force to drive the protesters back.While this was happening, journalists were filming, producing minute-by-minute footage from many angles.One of those videos captured a plain-clothes police officer shouting "uaa!", the Swahili word for "kill". Seconds later, a police officer knelt, gunshots were heard and protesters in the crowd collapsed - seven in total.David Chege, a 39-year-old software engineer and Sunday-school teacher, and Ericsson Mutisya, a 25-year-old butcher, were shot dead. Five other men were wounded, one of whom was left paralysed from the waist down.
Footage shows Allans, the student journalist, holding up a Kenyan flag as he tried to reach Chege and another casualty bleeding out after the gunfire.But who fired those shots?In the video of the officer shouting, "uaa!", the shooter's back was to the camera. But the BBC compared his body armour, riot shield and headgear with that of every police officer at the scene. In his case, he had an upturned neck guard. We matched his distinctive uniform to an officer in a video recorded seconds later. There, he made sure to hide his face before firing into the crowd. We do not know his name.Even after the fatal shots, the plain-clothes officer could still be heard urging his colleagues forward to "kill". He was not so cautious about concealing his identity: his name is John Kaboi.Multiple sources have told the BBC he is based at the Central Nairobi Police Station.The BBC put its allegations to Kenya's police service, which said the force could not investigate itself, adding that the IPOA was responsible for investigating alleged misconduct. Kaboi has been approached for comment and not replied. No-one has been held accountable for the deaths of Chege or Mutisya. The BBC found that neither of them was armed.
But these would not be the only lives lost. Rather than spook the demonstrators, the killings galvanised them and they tried for parliament again.At 14:57 they made it in.Footage shows them breaking down the fences and walking across the parliament's grounds. Many had their hands up. Others were holding placards or the Kenyan flag.Warning shots were fired. The demonstrators ducked down, then continued towards the building, filming on their phones as they went.Once inside, momentum turned to mayhem. Doors were kicked in, part of the complex was set alight and the last of the MPs fled the building.The destruction was severe but, after five minutes, footage showed them leaving the same way they had come in.At 15:04, shots rang out again and protesters tumbled across the flattened fence. As the smoke cleared, camera footage showed three bodies lying on the ground. Two were wounded - one raised his hand but could not get up.The third, 27-year-old finance student Eric Shieni, was dead - shot in the head from behind as he was leaving the grounds. The BBC again found, as in the cases of Chege and Mutisya, that he had been unarmed.
BBC Africa Eye analysed more than 150 images taken during the minutes before and after Shieni was shot. We are able to identify the soldier who fired at the back of his head from 25m (82ft) away - again, we do not know his name."The video is very clear," says Faith Odhiambo, president of the Law Society of Kenya."The aim was to kill those protesters. They could have had him arrested. But the fact that you shoot his head - it was clearly an intention to kill. "You have become the judge, the jury and the sentence executioner for Eric."The Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) told the BBC the IPOA had not forwarded any request to look into any of its personnel involved in the operations at parliament.It added: "The KDF remains fully committed to upholding the rule of law and continues to operate strictly within its constitutional mandate."After the shooting Allans is seen again, leading the evacuation. Footage shows him carrying a man with blood gushing from his leg."I feared for my life, that my parents would never see me again," he says."But I also feared to let other people die when I could help."
People outside the UK can watch the documentary on YouTube.
As the sun set on 25 June, the country was reeling. After a week of protests, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights declared that 39 people had died and 361 had been injured around the country.That evening President William Ruto thanked his security officers for their "defence of the nation's sovereignty" against "organised criminals" who had "hijacked" the protests.The following day, the finance bill was dropped."Listening keenly to the people of Kenya, who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this Finance Bill 2024, I concede," the president said in a national televised address, adding he would not sign it into law.But to this day no security officer has been held to account for the deaths and no official investigation has been published.Additional reporting by BBC film editors Valeria Cardi and Emile Costard
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