Cord MPs claim police targeted protesters in Luo Nyanza
A schoolgirl runs past a burning barricade in Kibera slum, Nairobi on May 23, 2016 during a protest by Cord supporters against electoral agency commissioners. Cord MPs on May 25, 2016 claimed police targeted protesters in Luo Nyanza during anti-IEBC demos. PHOTO | AFP
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Mr Mbadi said there was no justification for the excessive force, and even then, they are shot in the legs and not the upper torso, where a bullet could be fatal.
The MPs likened the violence to the fracas in Nyanza in 1969, when police shot several people after the motorcade of President Jomo Kenyatta was pelted with eggs.
Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma wondered why such scale of violence was not witnessed at demos elsewhere.
Cord MPs on Wednesday said protesters in Luo Nyanza appeared to have been targeted by police, saying undue force was used to quell the demonstrations against the electoral commission there compared to other regions.
Led by ODM chairman John Mbadi and Nominated MP Oburu Oginga, they challenged President Uhuru Kenyatta to speak on the matter and state who had issued the order to use live bullets to restrain protesters, which resulted in three deaths in Siaya County.
The counties where the lawmakers felt excessive force was used by security agents were Homa Bay, Migori, Kisumu and Siaya in the former Nyanza Province, and Kibera in Nairobi, where protesters were reportedly blocked from heading to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) headquarters.
“Looking at the way police reacted to protesters in the four counties in Luo Nyanza, there appeared to have been a shoot-to-kill order,” said Suba MP Mbadi.
Dr Oginga said communities in the opposition areas, including Kibera, would “not take it lying down”.
He said: “We will start talking to our people to find means of defending themselves if the police, who are supposed to protect them, are the ones harming them.”
Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma wondered why such scale of violence was not witnessed at demos elsewhere and also why police cordoned off Kibera and not other slums such as Mathare and Embakasi.
Mr Mbadi said there was no justification for the excessive force, and even then, they are shot in the legs and not the upper torso, where a bullet could be fatal.
The MPs were addressing a press conference at Parliament Buildings, Nairobi.
The MPs likened the violence to the fracas in Nyanza in 1969, when police shot several people after the motorcade of President Jomo Kenyatta was pelted with eggs.
