New drama as police fumble over gun records in Rex Masai shooting probe

A Nairobi magistrate court on Tuesday heard of inconsistencies and irregularities in firearm issuance at the Nairobi Central Police Station during the anti finance bill demonstrations in June 2024.

Police Constable Simon Waweru, told senior principal magistrate Geoffrey Onsarigo that on June 19, 2024, he was deployed to River Road during the height of the youth-led demonstrations.

He reported to the station early that morning, collected a pistol with 15 rounds of ammunition, and patrolled the area throughout the day.

However, he admitted he did not sign the arms movement register either when receiving or returning the weapon.

Instead, Waweru explained, an administrative mistake occurred in the arms register.

He told the court that when he went to collect his weapon, he found that his in-charge, Corporal Martin Githinji, had mistakenly written his name in the wrong section of the register.

The armorer allegedly corrected the error by applying white-out over Githinji’s name and inserting Waweru’s name in its place.

“I did not question the correction because the armorer had already cancelled Corporal Githinji’s name,” said Waweru.

“I did not sign. My force number appears in the entry, but there’s another force number at the end that’s different from mine. To my understanding, it was a mistake. But the entries are not false.”

He added that while he was issued a firearm on June 19, he did not use it and returned it with all 15 rounds intact that evening.

Waweru, who has served in the police since 2006, noted that it is not possible for an officer to be issued with a weapon twice in a single day.

Corporal Martin Githinji, confirmed the entry confusion.

He stated that on June 19, he was deployed along River Road and issued with a pistol and 15 rounds of ammunition.

He returned the weapon the same day without using it.

Githinji explained that the armorer mistakenly wrote his name twice, once at the bottom of one page and again at the top of the next page in the arms register.

“It was a mistake. I signed both entries, but once the error was discovered, we cancelled one of them,” he testified.

Githinji affirmed that both signatures were his and that the corrected entry was accurate.

“I bear responsibility because I signed for the firearm, but the correction was done in my presence, and the record now reflects the proper details,” he told the court.

He also disclosed that his division works undercover, primarily supporting uniformed officers by collecting intelligence.

Githinji denied having ever used or even seen rubber bullets in the course of his duty.

“We were never trained to use rubber bullets. I do not know how they are fired,” he added.

Magistrate Onsarigo heard that Waweru received a briefing at KICC on June 20, while officer Githinji attended a briefing at Central Police Station

“On June 19, I was briefed there was likely to be riots similar briefing happened on June 20 around 5am, only those in attendance were briefed,” said Waweru.

“It is not a must you attend the briefing, there were some who didn’t, there were some who were deployed, I attended a briefing, I was told to go to KICC.”

Police officer Geoffrey Murangiri, who was on patrol on June 20, during which teargas was used to disperse demonstrators blocking roads in the CBD, denied being issued with rubber bullets.

Murangiri admitted under cross-examination that he had signed against rubber bullets in the arms movement register, however he insisted that he had only been issued with a teargas launcher.

“I signed against the rubber bullets, but I was only issued with a teargas launcher. It does not even fire rubber bullets,” he stated.

He further explained that teargas canisters were distributed at the scene of demonstrations and not directly from the armory.

Murangiri also told the court that although he returned the launcher at 6:30 p.m. on June 20, the register mistakenly recorded the return as having occurred on June 21.

During prosecution re-examination, he clarified that the register’s mention of “R/bullets” may not necessarily mean rubber bullets and insisted the entries were not false.

All three officers described the standard procedure of firearm issuance at the Central Police Station.

According to them, an officer enters the armory, is identified physically by the armorer, is handed a firearm, and then signs the arms movement register.

However, according to officer Waweru he did all the steps apart from signing when he received his firearm on June 19.

“It is the only part I did not do at the entry,” said Waweru.

The court is zeroing in on identifying the firearm used in the June 20 shooting and the officer who fired the fatal shot.