Azimio la Umoja One Kenya coalition party leader Raila Odinga accused President William Ruto-led administration of unleashing what he terms as a trained illegal killer squad to harm opposition leaders.
Odinga, in a statement to newsrooms on Saturday, July 15 said the government is using a police gang dubbed Operation Support Unit (OSU) that is disguised as police officers to commit excesses against both Azimio leaders and their supporters.
OSU succeeded the disbanded Special Service Unit (SSU) of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
SSU was disbanded because it had been used to spread terror against Kenyans.
Ruto announced the disbandment of SSU after he came to power after among others he linked it to the disappearance of two Indians and their driver who were helping him in managing elections.
The three have not been found and at least ten police officers are under probe over the issue.
Saturday, Odinga while blaming OSU for the deaths witnessed in Wednesday’s protests in Mlolongo, Kamkunji, and Jogoo Road, said they would not relent in their fight for the liberation of the country.
He said Ruto’s remarks that he will deal with the opposition “once and for all’, points to the alleged killer squad’s directive to harm Azimio leaders.
“This time around, it is not just the official security officers that are being unleashed on Kenyans.
Kenya Kwanza has embedded a trained killer squad in the name of Operation Support Unit into the official security agencies and unleashed it on Kenyans,” he stated.
“OSU, now under Mr. Kariuki, was disbanded a few years ago and its members sent home.
The squad is back.
Last Wednesday, OSU was in action in Kamkunji, Jogoo Road, and Mlolongo, firing at protesters and killing some.”
“OSU’s main brief is to hurt and execute Azimio leaders and protesters.
It is the squad Ruto is counting on ‘kusafirisha’ Azimio leaders as Mr William Ruto warned.”
He cited the post-independence struggles for multi-party democracy and the fight for the new Constitution, reiterating that he would not be cowed by threats to stop the anti-government protests.
“Kenyans have never lost a liberation struggle.
We get beaten, arrested, and killed but we never lose,” Odinga stated.
He assured of triumph saying, “We shall not lose the one currently under way.
Police killings during protests have happened in the past.
Almost always, those shot are innocent Kenyans not involved in demonstrations.
These killings are meant to spread fear among Kenyans so that they succumb to the excesses of the regime.”
Odinga remembered previous fighters including George Anyona, Edward Oyugi, Ngotho Kariuki, Njeru Kathangu, Kenneth Matiba, and Charles Rubia among others as “heroes of our liberation” saying their victory will serve as an encouragement to Kenyans to soldier on.
He at the same time mourned those killed and arrested during the protests labeling them martyrs and political prisoners respectively, as he sought to reassure his supporters of a better future.
“We will soldier on.
Arrests, trumped-up charges, illegal detentions, and incarcerations have happened in the past.
We have always remembered the victims as the heroes of our liberation.”
“As we soldier on, we condole with the families of all those killed by Ruto and celebrate them as martyrs of our liberation.
We acknowledge all those being arrested and charged and acknowledge them as political prisoners.
We shall overcome,” he said.
OSU was used in an operation on Wednesday at Mlolongo, Jogoo Road, and other parts of the city where at least ten people died in total.
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