KISUMU, Kenya, Oct 29 – Two protesters were killed and five other people – including a police officer wounded in a violent confrontation with security forces, following the murder of ODM politician Shem Onyango Kwega.
The four were shot and wounded as police battled demonstrators in Kondele slum while the officer was hit by a stone hurled by the protestors near the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital, our correspondent said.
The chaos broke out soon after Kwega was shot and killed by suspected gangsters on Monday morning as he drove in the town accompanied by his wife.
A scientist working with CDC/KEMRI in Kisumu was on Saturday night killed at his residence in Tom Mboya Estate by armed gangsters who also injured a night guard. Joseph Odhiambo was attacked as he drove his vehicle into the compound at around 9pm by three men who made away with at least Sh50 thousand. NTV’s Ouko Okusah reports from the lake side city where carjackings and muggings have lately become the order of the day.
The growing insecurity across the country is raising eyes brows and particularly now that the general elections are just around the corner.
The worst phenomenon that’s now being observed is the re-emergence of gangs in Kisumu and other parts of the country that are politically motivated. This is generating justified concerns considering what happened in the last general elections. The other concern is that the police are very well informed about these gangs but this does not seem to translate into any deterrent action.
In Kisumu for instance, these gangs seem to even dictate and/or manipulate the assignments or transfers of senior police officers to this County. It is scary that the institution created and designed to protect the people would seem to be under the influence of such groups. People’s faith in this institution is quickly eroding as the police seem to be colluding with or condoning the activities of these gangs. The most obvious or well known groups go by foreign country names for reasons better known only to their members.
America, Russia, China and Japan are some of the names these terror gangs go by and they instil so much fear that the mention of these names sends shivers down the spines of many a people. Unfortunately we have forgotten that the members of these gangs are our kinsmen who are desperately looking for a way of expressing their grievances.
Many youths today have tried and failed many times to get the attention of their community leaders to sort their issues. Finally these same youths resolved to unite and as they say, misery loves company! These young people are brought together by their miserable existence in their quest to try to change the circumstances they have found themselves in. The violence meted out on innocent people by these gangs is a manifestation of unresolved issues that have long been ignored. We are only experiencing the ramifications of neglect and indifference the youth are subjected to. For as long as the underlying issues are not addressed these groups will keep mushrooming and be susceptible to political manipulation as they desperately cling to any Moses who promises them a “better way.”
My plea to all the leaders of this beautiful country is to stop giving lip service and start listening to the distress calls of the youth or else this mess may later come to blow up on their injudicious faces.
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