Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has announced that it will investigate the killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif on the outskirts of Nairobi.

Sharif was shot dead by police after his driver allegedly breached a roadblock set up following an incident of carjacking in Nairobi.

Police officials told the local press that he was killed in a case of mistaken identity as police searched for a car similar to what Sharif was traveling in.

Hours after the death was reported IPOA announced the deployment of a team of investigators to probe the Killing of Arshad Sharif, according to local journalists.

Dr Peter Kimani, a senior Keynan journalist, told Aaj News that IPOA is quite an independent body and has earned its respect among Kenyans “having secured some convictions against errant police officers in the past.”

The police oversight body was set up in 2011 through an act of Parliament “to investigate deaths and serious injuries caused by police action,” the law says.

The authority also investigates police misconduct and audits investigations and actions by the internal affairs unit of the police.

It has the power to conduct inspections of police premises and to monitor and investigate policing operations and deployment.

Dr Kimani says the authority’s foundation was premised on the police’s inability to investigate their peers.

Not a common occurrence

In the past, police officials in Kenya have been indicted for the use of excessive force, but such misuses often occurred when quelling public disturbances usually in informal settlements, according to Dr Kimani.

He said it was rare for police officials to shoot motorists on highways in Kenya.

Sharif’s death by police fire on a highway was a very, very rare occurrence, he said.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah have said that embassy officials were working with the Kenyan authorities.