11 police officers have a case to answer in Baby Pendo murder

The High Court has ruled that 11 police commanders and officers have a case to answer in the case of the brutal killing of Baby Samantha Pendo at Nyalenda Kilo in Kisumu County.

Justice Kanyi Kimondo delivered the ruling on Thursday to affirm the jurisdiction of Kenyan courts to hear the case in which the officers are being charged with 47 crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, and rape.

Initially, there were attempts to contest the charges through several consolidated constitutional petitions.

Baby Pendo was killed in the aftermath of disputed presidential election results in 2017 where the then incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta of Jubilee Party (JP) was announced the winner, but Raila Odinga of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord), contested.

Baby Pendo’s parents, Loice Achieng and her husband Joseph Abanja moved delegates during the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) event on October 26, 2020 when they replayed at Bomas of Kenya how their lovely child was killed in the melee at Nyalenda Kilo on August 11, 2017.

Ms Achieng was fleeing teargas during the post-election protests, when she encountered police brutality. Tragically, her six-months-old Baby Pendo was killed. 

Mr Abanja commended Mr Kenyatta (now retired president) for calling truce with his political nemesis Mr Odinga in what was branded as “handshake” on March 9, 2018. 

“Let my baby’s blood be the last to be spilled,” Mr Abanja said then, cautioning Kenyans against accepting to be used by politicians who spew garbage and hate speech. 

Amnesty International Kenya has welcomed the ruling by justice Kimondo, exuding confidence that justice will prevail for Baby Pendo and other victims of 2017 post-election violence.

AI-Kenya Executive Director Irungu Houghton in a press release on Thursday said the court’s ruling cements the fact that such cases can be heard in accordance with Kenyan laws and procedures and not the procedures used by the International Criminals Court (ICC).

“This decision is a crucial step towards justice for all victims of the 2017 Post Election Violence,” said Mr Houghton.

He added: “In his ruling today (Thursday, the judge rejected the arguments that the ODPP –Office of Director of Public Prosecutions – had been influenced by NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) to file the charges against the officers.”

Meanwhile, the judge also renewed a warrant of arrest for an officer who consistently failed to attend court. The officers are expected in court on October 3, 2024 to face murder charges. 

The inquest began in 2019, holding senior officers and others accountable. In 2022, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) charged 12 police bosses under the International Crimes Act that domesticated the Rome Statute in Kenyan law.

Notably, there was bloodshed in the aftermath of a similar disputed presidential election result that came a decade earlier. There was post-election chaos in the 2007 after the then incumbent president Mwai Kibaki of Party of National Unity (PNU) was declared the winner in the announcement made by the now defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) - then chaired by the late Samuel Kivuitu. With supporters of Mr Odinga dissatisfied with the election outcome, violence broke out eventually. Over 1,000 innocent Kenyans were killed and 600,000 displaced.