Police bosses Donatha Kiplagat, Francisca Mbithe moved after Willis Mugambi killing

Eastern Regional Police Boss, Rono Bunei, has confirmed that the Police Commander of Tharaka Nithi County, Donatha Kiplagat, and Officer-in-Charge of Chuka, Francisca Mbithe, have been relocated after protests that lasted for three days.

The demonstrations were prompted by the shooting of Willis Mugambi, the Chairman of Tharaka Nithi County Bodaboda Association, on Saturday.

According to reports, Willis Mugambi was shot and killed by police in Chuka town on Saturday as residents protested the killing of Daniel Mutembei. Mugambi was called in to assist in stopping the demonstrations before he was shot from behind.

The demonstrators, most of them mourners, were protesting the delay by police to arrest and prosecute five people accused of killing Daniel Mutembei three weeks ago.

A Chuka resident demonstrating the murder of Willis Mugambi Pulse Live Kenya

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The protesters, who had been joined by some boda boda riders and other residents of the town, barricaded the Meru-Nairobi highway with stones and the casket with Mutembei’s body, causing a huge traffic jam.

Kindiki, in a statement on Saturday night, stated that high-level investigative teams had been dispatched to Chuka Town to interrogate the matter and apprehend the culprits.

"Any person(s) at whom evidence will point shall face the course of justice," he wrote on Twitter.

The Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (IPOA) in a statement on Sunday stated that it was launching a probe into the death.

"Section 25 (1) of IPOA Act demands that 'the Authority shall investigate any death or serious injury, including death or serious injury while in Police custody, which are the result of Police action or were caused by members of the Service while on duty," IPOA chair Ann Makori stated.

"Our Regional office in Meru has this morning dispatched a Rapid Response Team to launch investigations into the death," she added.

IPOA Chairperson Anne Makori IPOA Chairperson Anne Makori Pulse Live Kenya

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Mugambi was shot dead a few weeks before the day he was to pay dowry to the family of the mother of his two daughters, in his quest to formalize the relationship.