As the sun rises up to shine on many Kenyans with rays of hope, many marginalised communities and those from low income urban towns are treated to rays of uncertainty, sorrow and pain.
This section of the population, largely slum residents, are normally greeted to a new day of battle with anxiety as they search for answers to questions over their missing kins.
Most of these have fallen victims of extrajudicial killings or enforced disappearances that the government has downplayed despite many investigative stories by journalists, independent reports and audits.
The reports have shown that more than 300 people have fallen victims.
Sadly, the public has remained aloof on the issue much as local and international human rights groups have documented and highlighted the magnitude of the increasing cases.
But after being exposed to the grim picture through interaction with families of those who have fallen victims to police executions, a breed of artists with the help of Amnesty international and African Uncensored have joined the debate.
The group has vowed to use their brushes to tell the pain of those families and the risk the country is staring to if the trend is not stopped.
As you enter Shifteye Gallery, you are greeted by various eye-catching artworks mounted on the walls.
A number of people from different walks of life mill around the artworks in silence; moving from one to the next graphic.
They wear sullen faces, appear to be emotionally overwhelmed and in deep thoughts.
At the centre of the gallery leaning on a huge pillar is Kamunya Wanjuki's Red Shadow artwork. It illustrates the void that is left when a loved one is enforced to disappear.
The mixed media has a drawing of a family of three walking holding hands. The first child is in front holding her mums hand, but the father figure is missing.
The artwork shows the child's mother hallucinating as if she is holding her husband and the last child too.
"I was inspired by an Amnesty International documentary on victims of enforced disappearances. I took the family setup because it is the worst affected," Kamunya said when we stopped by his piece of work.
"I used colour to express different moods. I also employed the use of voids to signify the missing subjects. Most of the victims happened to be men therefore my use of the father figure to tell my story," he says.
"I utilised clear perspex in the void area due to its capacity to handle stress to other materials like glass," he explains, adding that he used warm colours to show the bright future the family was coming from with their father but employed dull ones to present a uncertain future.
To the right of the same pillar, there is a Stand Blackboard with drawing by Absolom Aswani.
The painting is of two women, one covered with a black hijab and is being comforted by another in a green hijab with her eyes wide open and visibly in anguish.
"The beyond words artwork rests on cracked wall to signify injustices," Aswani said.
"The justice system is put in place to give the population assurance of hope, trust and a sense of security. But in Kenya their lives are broken apart and also rudely interjected with uncertainty and loss," he said.
"Following the spate of disappearances and extrajudicial killings, there is proof there is total disregard of human life thus fear defines daily routine of the people," Aswani explains.
"Therefore the masses are left with bad tastes in their mouths, distrust in the laid down system, hopelessness, distraught and deep senses of betrayal is clear in their eyes with questions lingering in their minds," he added as he explained the meaning of the drawing.
Another drawing is a mugshot of an old woman holding her hands to her chin.
"The drawing is a freezed moment of a mother whose son went missing near Solio in 2015. In the African tradition, it is an atrocity to insult a mother. They are given almost a sacred position serving as the emotional protector and confidants even to the strong," Aswani explains.
"But here in Face of a Nation, there is a desolate moment of a mother whose son has been missing. Her emotions are insulted and the drawing exposes the rot and degradation of simple human values of worth and love for one another. It also shows concern for life in a nation which once upheld the rule of law," he said.
Aswani said he chose to participate so as to add his voice and help reach out to many people in highlighting the need to stop the culture of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.
"We love Kenya. Therefore, we will be only proud of it if we are a country that abides by rule of law. Not one that executes its citizens at will," he said.
Read: Lobby groups petition Uhuru to form commission of inquiry into extrajudicial killings
Also read: Nkaissery blasts media for unfair police criticism after extrajudicial killings report
Anne Mwiti, Art lecturer at Kenyatta University, uses oil to paint on a hand-stitched fabric to draw faces of individuals.
"I watched the horrific documentary and then it hit me that I was not safe and no one is in an unjust regime. Once the rule of law is flouted, it can be you facing the executioners," she says, tears lingering in her face.
She said the stitched faces is an illustration that it is everyone's reprehensibility to stand up and say no to these senseless killings.
Through the artwork, she wants the public to identify the problem and understand that it will take each individual's effort to put an end to the rot.
"After being exposed to grim statistics of victims and families of extrajudicial killings and disappearances, I realised these things weren't fiction or movies but a reality that is turning us to bitter people and archaic society," Steven Kyenze, an artist from Kibera, said.
His artwork is an impression of a woman hugging a question mark. In the background, there is a city in darkness on the shores of a lake whose water is blood.
"The city is Nairobi and the lake is at Uhuru Park which is filled with tears of blood of mothers whose children have been executed in cold blood," he said.
"Mothers have unconditional love for their children and the same love should be showed by the government to its people which is not the case currently," he added, saying that his drawing aims to enlighten the society and challenge the growing fatigue among the public that suspects of any crime need to be executed.
Award winning investigative journalist and founder of African Uncensored John Allan Namu at the gallery. /RAMADHAN RAJAB
Moenga Mageto said their artwork is aimed to tell the public that Kenya is at war with its people, contrary to the saying that the country peaceful.
"It is sad those we pay to protect us are the ones killings us. It is more saddening that these issues are not being spoken about openly and condemned and those responsible for soiling our rule of law held to account," he said.
Local and international human rights groups have documented and condemned increasing cases of extrajudicial killings and disappearances whose reports point to security agencies as main perpetrators of the atrocities.
However, the government led by Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery has not acknowledged the invesitigative pieces.
The same have been dismissed as authorships that are out to undermine the 'good' work of the police.
STATE RUNNING DEATH SQUAD
In a November 2013, Open Justice Initiative and Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) found that the Kenyan government was running a death squad within the ATPU.
The special unit of the police was accused of being behind the unlawful killings and disappearances of suspects with links with al Shabaab at the Coast.
In their report, 'We Are Tired of Taking you to Court: Human Rights Abuses by Kenya's Anti-terrorism Police Unit', Muhuri documented over 20 cases at the Coast of people who have been killed or simply disappeared that year.
In 2014, the Independent Medico-Legal Unit recorded 199 cases of extrajudicial killings, and 97 by October 2015, including 85 summary executions perpetrated by polices and the Kenya Wildlife Service.
Read: Cabinet approves bill allowing independent probe into extrajudicial killings
Also read: Extrajudicial killings in Kenya have been dealt with, CS Amina tells Al Jazeera
In its 'Error of Fighting Terror with Terror' report, released in September 2015, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights - a state agency - documented 120 widespread cases of systematic and well-coordinated arbitrary arrests, extortion, illegal detention, torture, killings and disappearances of individuals linked to al Shabaab at the Coast, Nairobi and in the Northeastern region.
According to the report, the shocking human rights violations were perpetrated by members of the national police, military and Kenya Wildlife Service.
In its 'Deaths and Disappearances: Abuses in Counter-terrorism Operations in Northeastern Kenya' report launched in July 2016, Human Rights Watch recorded 34 cases of extrajudicial killings.
DISGUISED
According to the report, security forces usually pick up victims while disguising either in plain clothes or without identifying themselves.
To end the culture of unlawful killings, the lobby groups have called on the president to acknowledge the incidences and commit to form a commission of inquiry to investigate the violations.
They have argued that the current civilian oversight mechanism were either weak or lacked the mandate to investigate abuse - particularly those carried out by KDF and KWS - thus the need for a commission with powers to investigate across all the security organs.
Kenya Defence Forces - especially the Directorate of Military Intelligence -, police units including the ATPU and the Administration Police, National Intelligence Service, and Kenya Wildlife Service rangers, were pointed out as the main units involved in the heinous crimes.
Read: 2 House teams faulted for delay in probe of extrajudicial killings
Also read: Uganda rejects Amnesty's accusation of extrajudicial killings
The involvement of the multiple units and lack of investigations indicated the deaths were more than simply the work of rogue officers.
The reports indicate that there is a high level of coordination and control by government or security officials.
"In the low income areas, Muslim communities and other marginalised areas, police do these unlawful killings with impunity and in a defined pattern. Attempts by the same government top officials to demonise those pursuing justice or documenting these cases shows its not only the work of rogue officers," Wanyeki Muthoni, regional director of Amnesty International in East Africa, said.
She said the atrocious killings had become a national problem and Kenyans should not just sit back and watch but stand up to stop them.
Absolom Aswani a visual artists explaining his artwork at the gallery. /RAMADHAN RAJAB
FUNDING CUTS
Kenya's big security donors have asked the government to take reports of right groups seriously.
The country risks losing financial and technical support from key international backers to tackle insecurity following its human rights record.
US ambassador Robert Godec said they were deeply concerned by the reports of human rights violations in Kenya, including in the context of counter-terrorism efforts.
"We urge the Government of Kenya to take reports of abuses seriously. We call on Kenyan authorities to investigate all allegations and to hold the violators accountable in keeping with President Kenyatta’s stated commitment to human rights. The importance of human rights and accountability have been raised by US officials including President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry, and by me," he said.
Godec added that the Embassy closely follows human rights issues in Kenya and engages regularly both publicly and privately to emphasize the importance of respecting human rights, including with government officials, security officials, parliamentarians, civil society, the Kenyan people and other international partners.
Using US assistance, Godec told IPOA to investigate reports of human rights abuses, follow them to prosecution and convict police officers who have violated the law.
He urged the the police service to fully cooperate with IPOA and its Internal Affairs Unit in the investigations, training and capacity building of Kenyan security forces to confront terrorists and criminals.
There is need to protect the public and respect human rights. Effective counter-terrorism efforts and strong security fundamentally depend on adherence to the rule of law and respect for human rights," Godec said.
Human rights are a fundamental American value and they work to protect and advance them around the world he said.
"US law prohibits the US Departments of State and Defense from providing training and material support to any individual or unit that has committed gross violations of human rights," the ambassador told the Star.
"We ensure all assistance to Kenyan security forces is provided in full compliance with US law based on the information we have available at the time," he said.
This was in explanation on US policy on funding forces alleged to be violating human rights and if their continued support to Kenyan security forces despite the report was an endorsement to their abusive operations.
Nic Hailey, British High Commissioner to Kenya, on his part told the Star they were working with the Kenyan authorities to promote police reform and strengthen accountability in the security sector.
He is said Kenya-UK co-operation is targeted and designed specifically to improve Kenyan capacity in line with international human rights standards.
"As High Commissioner, I have always been clear that when credible allegations of police abuses of power are made they should be investigated in full, and if true then those responsible should be held to account," he said.