Queries raised on injured police officers
An injured officer is helped to get into an ambulance at Wilson Airport on May 24, 2016. A total of 10 officers were flown to Nairobi for treatment after they got injured during CORD anti IEBC protests in Siaya. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
It was understood that the officers were so gravely injured that they braved the one-hour flight from Kisumu for specialised treatment in Nairobi.
They walked slowly down the steps and some of them were limping and required a hand to clear the stairs.
But the wounds they had, from the bandages on the arms, legs or head, seemed at odds with the government’s descriptions.
When injured police officers from Siaya arrived at Wilson Airport on Tuesday evening, it was to a waiting army of medical personnel in white coats and two ambulances with their engines running.
It was understood that the officers were so gravely injured that they braved the one-hour flight from Kisumu for specialised treatment in Nairobi.
Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho, who was with Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet, had said as much, alluding to the fact that the hospitals in western Kenya would not have been good enough to treat the nature of the officers’ injuries.
They walked slowly down the steps and some of them were limping and required a hand to clear the stairs.
But the wounds they had, from the bandages on the arms, legs or head, seemed at odds with the government’s descriptions.
Most of them got off the plane without help and walked a few metres to the ambulances, even spending a moment to shake the PS’s hand and stand at attention to salute Mr Boinnet.
The officers were injured during the Monday demonstrations in Siaya and Kisumu counties.
Questions have been raised on why the officers could not be treated in the counties for instance at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral hospital-a Level Five facility or the Moi Teaching and Referral hospital.
The PS, addressing journalists at Wilson on Tuesday evening, said the officers were flown in for “specialised treatment”.
“We should not trivialise the injuries suffered by these officers, who are our brothers and sisters. We felt that it would be better to bring them to Nairobi for proper treatment,” he said.
