Those we lost: Kin of protest victims cry for justice

Before the anti-government protests on Wednesday and last Friday, the young Kenyans were full of life, going about their businesses.

But opposition Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition-led demonstrations have snuffed life out of them, as the country comes to terms with the loss associated with stray bullets, and those caught in the melee of stone-throwing.

The  Nation has compiled stories of Kenyans who have lost their lives in the anti-government demos called to protest the high cost of living. 

The tailoring student at St Joseph Vocational Training College was stepping out for lunch when a bullet hit her from behind. She died on the spot.

Wanjiru was to graduate in February of next year and dreamt of owning a school uniform retail shop. The dreams died in the demonstrations. 

“I have lost a disciplined, focused and loving daughter,” her mother Rose Wamaitha told the Nation.

When his life was snuffed out, Edward Wanjala was less than 100 metres from the gate of his crib.

The 27-year old last born from a family of three boys was returning from work in Kiambu County when he died. 

“I watched my brother dying. The ever sparkling eyes slowly turned dull as his life gave way to death,” a teary Cleophas – his brother – recalled the traumatic moment.

For close to three hours, Wanjala’s numb body remained uncollected while his blood clotted on the dusty ground.

Wanjala’s humble family is now stranded with mortuary and other last expense bills to foot.

Ochieng, 27, and his brother Evans Oluoch had remained indoors at their house in Sabaki during the anti-government protests.

But when Ochieng, a jua kali welder, stepped out to get food long after lunch, the fatal bullet hit him. 

“A neighbour called with the news of my brother’s death. He had been gunned down. Witnesses said Ochieng died instantly and that the body was taken by police officers,” Oluoch told journalists.

“My brother had nothing to do with the demonstrations and did not deserve to die in this manner.”

Just as he was alighting from a Kitengela-bound matatu, all hell broke loose. Police officers and demonstrators were in a cat-and-mouse game. Mwikali found himself in the melee.

The 27-year-old was shot in the chest region. He was the first fatality at the scene of chaos. As expected, the death of the young man provoked more police-demonstrators clashes in Kitengela. 

Locals and neighbours say Mwikali was a plant operator and a budding businessman.

“He was a good man. I miss his calmness,” his girlfriend Mercy Kavata told the Saturday Nation amid sobs.

Eunice Mutheu was at her family’s M-Pesa shop in Kisii town on Friday during the Saba Saba protests. Police engaged protesters in the town in running battles for more than eight hours. Residents say the officers resorted to using live bullets after being overwhelmed by protesters and having run short of teargas.

Why nine bullets were fired into Mutheu’s M-Pesa stall remains a mystery. One of the bullets hit the 23-year-old student. Mutheu died later at Hema Hospital.

The Kisii National Polytechnic student was taking a tailoring course and was about to go for attachment and graduate before the end of the year. 

“The girl comes from a very poor background. I just don’t know what to tell her family,” Mutheu’s brother-in-law, Mzee Mbui told reporters.

He added that officers fired at the shop, forcing workers and passers-by to lie on the floor. Mutheu’s family has reported the death and recorded a statement at Kisii police station.

John Musa’s body was found at Kisii Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary by his family on Saturday. 

Musa’s close family members come from Otamba village in Kisii County. They say he was killed by police officers in Kisii town during the Friday demonstrations. The 24-year-old was a boda boda operating from Menyinkwa terminus.

“It’s like he was shot in the back. The bullet entered the body and exited through the stomach,” Musa’s father, a single parent, said.

The elderly man and his wife separated months ago. The boda boda did die without a child.

Witnesses say Reagan Otieno was shot dead in Migori on Friday. His family insists he was innocent. Otieno hailed from Masare in Migori County.

His widowed mother, Carol Atieno, is in mourning. She is pained by the fact that Otieno’s dream of joining university has dissipated. The young man was to join university in September, his mother said.

Atieno, who does menial jobs at construction sites, said she does know why her son was killed and is demanding answers from the police and the government. Migori and Masare residents say Otieno was an asset to his mother and the larger community. 

“If going to the streets is a crime, what about a police officer kneeling and aiming a firearm at an innocent person and killing him?” asked Cyrus Owiti, a brother of the deceased

Kenya Parents Association (KPA) Migori County chairman, Julius Kiberenge, echoed the family’s cry for justice.

Had she known that July 7 was the last day she was seeing her husband alive, Charity Akinyi would never have allowed him to step out of their house.

Derick Adongo, 25, succumbed to gunshot wounds during the anti-government demonstrations in Kisumu town. Akinyi said Adongo left the house in Obung’a estate for work at 11am and met his death hours later. 

“Death has robbed my seven-month-old daughter of a father. My husband was the family’s sole breadwinner,” the distraught woman said.

Adongo’s mother, Rose – also a widow – appealed to the government and human rights organisations to help the family pursue justice.

A celebrated boxing champion, 35-year-old Raphael Shigali is among Kenyans who lost their lives during the Wednesday anti-government marches.

Shigali, the reigning Nairobi County Bantamweight champion, was reportedly killed by police officers at Mogas petrol station area, near Makadara Railway Station on Jogoo Road.

The family, through Shigali’s elder brother – Omar Shakur alias Immoh – yesterday said his body is preserved at the Chiromo mortuary. 

“My younger brother lost his life on Wednesday. A post-mortem carried out on the body this morning shows that he died of a single gunshot wound to his head,” Immoh said.

“When dispersing demonstrators, police officers need to know that they are not above the law and neither can they act outside the law,” Adagala Adagala, an activist, said.

– Reported by Daniel Ogetta, Ruth Mbula, Angeline Ochieng and Nyaboga Kiage