The Ministry of Interior has recommended to President William Ruto to initiate the process of establishing the Coroner General’s Office as per the National Coroners Service Act 2017.

The Coroner General’s Office, the Ministry says, will be mandated to investigate deaths, including those resulting from police action and also ensure accountability and transparency in cases of suspicious deaths.

According to the aforementioned Act, a coroner is a qualified person or official whose duty is to investigate the cause of any death occurring due to non-natural cause. He/she will generally not be involved where a person died from some natural illness or disease for which he was being treated.

This will be an independent corporate body comprising of the Coroner-General, the regional coroners and other staff appointed by the Public Service Commission for the proper and efficient discharge of the functions of the Service.

Violent deaths, deaths by unfair means, or during pregnancy or sudden deaths, deaths in police or military custody are amongst those that will be reported to a coroner within the respective jurisdiction for investigations.

Meanwhile, the Ministry has insisted that it does not negotiate with the respect for the sanctity of human life as guaranteed by Article 26 of the Constitution.

“The prevailing security situation in the country owing to acts of lawlessness arising from infiltration of peaceful demonstrations has been unfortunate, the Ministry says. “What began as an expression of divergent opinion over the financial vision for the country has tragically escalated to a situation where we are sadly counting the number of lives lost, value of property destroyed and families deprived of livelihoods.”

The Ministry says that security agencies are under instruction to exercise restraint during peaceful protests and use of non-lethal force to ensure public safety.

However, it points out the fact that police can indeed be compelled to use reasonable force when isolated and specific scenarios of protests escalate to criminalities including rioting, looting and burning of properties, disruption of traffic through erection of road blocks on major highways and invasion of critical and protected infrastructure.

The Ministry says that more security personnel have been deployed in hotspots and areas where security for critical infrastructure is prioritized.

The Ministry also emphasized that all arrests made in any part of the country are subject to the Criminal Procedure Code that spells out how arrests are executed, and detention and trial of suspects.

“Anyone aggrieved by police actions is welcome to seek redress through our established criminal justice system, including the courts. We remain on high alert concerning the insecurity posed by protests infiltrations and the cases of violence and disruption of public order.”