Police Statement After Boniface Mwangi Was Roughed Up by GSU Officers

The National Police Service (NPS) has issued a statement denying claims that activist Boniface Mwangi was roughed up by General Service Unit (GSU) officers.

Police accused Mwangi of causing a commotion to aid the escape of defaulters who had been arrested by the GSU officers.

“The subject activist was not assaulted but instead caused an unnecessary drama by running away and felling himself on the floor only to cause a commotion that was meant to aid the escape of the arrested defaulters,” said the NPS.

In the statement signed by Police Spokesperson Bruno Shioso, the police said that Mr Mwangi tried to obstruct the officers who were enforcing revenue collection obligations in partnership with the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) and the Nairobi County Government.

The police added that they suspect his intent was to help those arrested escape or to intimidate the officers from carrying out their duties.

 “Though to be established substantively later, it is suspected that the activist took this path of open defiance of the law and obstruction of law enforcement agents for the purposes of either to facilitate escape of the arrested defaulter or to intimidate the officers from carrying out their lawful duties.”

“NPS regrets unnecessary situations staged for the cameras and aimed at escalating unnecessary tensions between police and the public,” said Shioso.

[Kenyan Activist Boniface Mwangi]

Activist Boniface Mwangi was on Friday, October 8, 2021, roughed up by officers from the General Service Unit (GSU).

He narrated that he had gone to his usual barbershop, when people in the company of police officers walked in and identified themselves as officers from the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

"I was at my barbershop when these young men walked in, with a GSU officer & arrested the receptionist. We asked them to identify themselves, they said they were from KRA but they didn’t have IDs. We asked them to call someone who had an ID," Mwangi narrated.

It turned out the men who had refused to identify themselves were operating under the command of a woman allegedly from the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).

During the confrontation, CCTV footage from the building showed three officers chasing Mwangi before he tripped and fell. They then caught up with him and beat him up.