The Role of Police Brutality in Violent Conflict in the Capital Cities of East Africa: A Case Study of Nairobi, Kenya

Police violence is a vice that has been going on in Police institutions all over the world. Kenya being one of the countries with similar tendencies. The purpose of the study was to examine the role of police brutality in violent conflict in the capital cities of East Africa: case study of Nairobi Kenya. This study employed causal study design. The target population of this study were residents of Nairobi County in general and specifically the residents of Kibra constituency in Nairobi. Other respondents were student leaders of public universities within Nairobi County, officers from the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), officers from Kenya Police Service, local administration, representatives from Kenya National Human Rights Commission (ICNERC) and representatives from Amnesty International who served as key informants. The study adopted stratified random sampling to collect samples from the residents of Kibra to participate in the study. To collect data from other informants, the study adopted purposive sampling methods to pick key informants to participate in the key informant interview. The sample size for the residents of Kibra constituency was 118 and sample of key informants were 17. The instruments employed by the study included interview guide and structured questionnaire. The quantitative data collected using questionnaires were analysed using statistical tools while qualitative data collected using interview schedule were analysed using content analysis. The study established that the key drivers of police brutality in Nairobi, Kenya included pressure from politicians and elites in society, discrimination based on tribe, brutal training, and direction from superiors and police corruption. The study also established that police brutality is partly to blame on violence tendencies by youths in the informal areas of Nairobi town. Concerning effectiveness of selected Police reforms, the study concludes that IPOA is still experiencing systemic challenges that are preventing them in rooting out police brutality in Kenya. The study also shows that acts passed in parliament to stop police brutality have lacked political will to be fully implemented. The study also revealed that "Nyumba Kumi" initiative introduced by the government has not been successful in making the police and the citizens have a close working relationship, as most citizens cannot trust the police fully. Based on the findings and conclusion, the study has identified a number of recommendations including Police recruitment free from all forms of discrimination, improving training curriculum, provision of a reporting channel for unreasonable orders from superiors, prosecution of corrupt police officers, strengthening investigative arm of IPOA, life style audits of police officers and adequate financing for community policing `Nyumba Kumi' initiative.