NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 27 – Police used live bullets to disperse Multimedia University students, who were protesting against reckless driving by Public Service Vehicle’s in the area especially on Magadi Road where the institution is located.
Two students and two security guards are currently admitted to Nairobi Women’s Hospital, Rongai branch.
Both students have bullets lodged in their bodies.
One is 24-year-old Emmanuel Lutukuyi Waswa who has a bullet lodged in the chest.
“It is serious but he has now stabilized ahead of the operation,” a medical officer at the hospital told Capital FM News.
Waswa was hit by the bullet “a few meters from the main gate. The officer fired at us despite being peaceful. ”
The other student, Edwin Nyamweya has a bullet stuck in his right shoulder.
One of the security guard has a bullet in the neck though an x-ray exercise is yet to reveal the exact location.
The protest, which started at 6 am turned chaotic after police lobbed teargas to disperse the agitated students who had barricaded the busy Magadi Road.
The students had also lit bonfires to protest the death of 18 years old Cynthia Akoth over the weekend following an accident along Langata Road that claimed four lives and left 8 others seriously injured.
Akoth was a first year Mass Communication student at the University.
Police fired live bullets after the students started hurling stones at them injuring two officers, who were also rushed to hospital.
At some point, police pursued the students inside the institutions until the University administration intervened and urged them to withdraw.
A senior officer present during the demonstration when asked why police used live bullets against students only said: “We have no such report. Let them report to us.”
The students through their leader Omwayo Maranga have vowed to boycott the Ongataline Sacco vehicles.
According to Maranga, the vehicles, whose license have since been cancelled by NTSA will only, “use this route peacefully if they reform.”
He claimed the about 200 vehicles are owned by “cartels who seems to be untouchable despite complaining to the authorities.”
Just two months ago, the University had written to the National Transport and Safety Authority over the Sacco according to the University Security Chief Security Officer Francis Mugambi.
“There have been no actions against the rogue vehicles,” he protested.
By Joseph Muraya