By Kenya is currently experiencing a surge in confrontations between police and angry youths ;popularly known as the Gen-Z. These confrontations happen in the form of anti-government protests as a result of deep-rooted grievances over poor governance,economic hardship and critically due to the conduct of law enforcement bodies.
The solution to these problems call for a multifaceted approach centred on respect for human rights,accountability for police brutality and modern training on crowd management.
The recent protests by the kenyan youth has been met with ruthless and aggressive response from the police;the body charged with law enforcement and order.The incidents in June anD July 2025 saw the use of live ammunition ,teargas and water cannons on the peaceful protesters that resulted in great amount of fatalities and hundreds of injuries.The anger among the youths has been fueled mostly by high rate of unemployment,rising cost of living and lack of government accountability on corruption.
The police on the other hand have always viewed public demonstrations as a threat to state authority and therefore have responded in a measure that escalated rather than diffused the tensions.The police atrocities always happen in contravention of the kenyan constitution and international treaties that guarantee right to peaceful assembly and protests.The human rights report on the recent standoff indicated a widespread violation of rights ranging from arbitrary arrests,use of excessive force,abductions and undocumented deaths.Decaying human bodies have been found lying in forests and others dumped in the rivers with visible marks of persecutions before death.
These blatant violations of human rights have eroded the public trust leading to more public outbursts that have kept the country in continuous and spontaneous demonstrations.
Subsequently,the use of the military to support the police in the crowd management added salt to the wounds and raised suspicion about the government’s intention to establish a state of anarchy.
Despite the existence of bodies like IPOA,the systemic brutality of kenyan police which is rooted in the legacy of colonial era policing has not found a redress to the common good of the kenyans.The investigations into the police misconduct has often led to little or no accountability; an ordeal that has led to incessant cycle of impunity by the police force who faces no consequences for their heinous actions they commit in under pretext of protecting property and life.
Kenyans in their numbers are agitating for essential reforms in the police training to address modern crowd management strategies ,use of lethal tactics and stop relying on outdated strategies based on suppression rather than communication.It is believed that retraining will entrench international best practices on force and crowd psychology,emphasize negotiations,communication and graduated response to unrest.These changes will help rebuild and sustain public trust in the police force in conjunction with other measures related to underlying issues such as accountability,socio-economic grievances unemployment and lack of political inclusion.In doing so,Kenyans will exercise their rights without fear regardless of age or ethnic background or social status in the society.
