KCPE candidate Vincent Nyamai relives police brutality with bullet lodged in body
For two months now, Vincent Nyamai, 14, of Mukuru kwa Njenga, Nairobi, has been walking with a bullet lodged in his lower left rib.
Doctors are monitoring him as they ponder whether to dislodge the bullet from his body. The teenager was injured in police brutality during controversial evictions of thousands of residents that began in November last year.
The boy narrated his ordeal a day after sitting his KCPE exams at his home in Mukuru, saying he fears anyone dressed in a police uniform. At times, he said, the pain in his chest is unbearable but he does not like to be reminded of the day he was shot. The bullet passed less than an inch above his heart and was stopped by the rib.
His mother, Everlyne Mwenda, recalled that her son was coming back home on December 27, 2021 from his aunt’s place in neighbouring Pipeline estate where he often went to revise for his exams. He never made it home; he was caught up in the running battles between police officers and locals protesting the evictions.
“I heard the commotion and I began running towards home when I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I looked at my chest and saw blood trickling out. I was too shocked, I fainted,” the boy said.
He woke up to find his mother by his side at Cana Hospital, where doctors had already informed her that he had to be transferred immediately to Kenyatta National Hospital, where he was admitted until December 31. The family struggles to take him to the hospital for required regular tests.
Not far from Vincent’s home, another lad, Evans Mutisya, 15, has two scars on his lower left midriff, a testament to the entry and exit points of a bullet that hit him as he stood on the verandah of the house on the same day the other boy was shot.
“I heard a gunshot and felt something tear into my lower back. I turned and saw a police officer and I knew he was aiming at me. He shot two more times but missed and ran away,” he said.
Cana Hospital
Neighbours found Evans lying in his own blood and rushed him to Cana Hospital before he was taken to Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, where he underwent surgery and was admitted until January 3.
The parents of the two teenagers reported the incidents to the police, were issued with P3 forms (medical report forms used by police and act as evidence that a violent act occurred), but their aggressors still walk scot-free.
Elizabeth Otieno, another resident, was surprised at around 11pm on December 27 when her neighbour called and asked her to rush to a nearby hospital to check on her husband. The 15 minutes she took to get there were not enough for her to see her husband alive. He died shortly after the ominous phone call. He had been shot while protesting against the police supervision of the evictions.
These were some of the sad stories that filled the air in Mukuru kwa Njenga yesterday during a visit by Amnesty International secretary-general Agnes Callamard to campaign against police brutality and forceful evictions.
Ms Callamard wondered why Mukuru kwa Njenga looked like some towns shelled in war-torn countries such as Ukraine and Israel-Palestine, saying Kenya was not at war and criticising the government for not helping locals rebuild their homes.
Violated rights
“The government of Kenya has violated the rights of the people of Mukuru. We demand justice for them. We are telling the Kenyan government that enough is enough, these houses must be rebuilt, the people of this neighbourhood must be protected and respected,” she said.
“I beg you (Mukuru residents) as I begged the Palestinians – do not lose hope or disappear under the weight of human rights violations. If you are united, justice will come to Mukuru also.”
Her words come barely two months after the State signed a deal with the private former owner of the land, Orbit Chemicals, that allowed locals to rebuild their demolished houses. Whereas the pact was good on paper, the reality on the ground is morbid.
Jamal Ahmed, happy with the government’s announcement that the victims of forceful evictions could begin reconstruction, gathered all his savings and started the work. He never finished his house.
He ended up in Madina Hospital with seven stab wounds – two on his head, one in his left hip, two in his right shoulder and two in his back. He suffered serious injuries in his right lung and underwent surgery to remove blood clots in his chest cavity.
His attackers, who residents said were hired goons, left him for dead in a ditch next to his unfinished house. His neighbours rushed him to the hospital, where he was admitted for five days, accumulating a bill of Sh153,798. He has paid some Sh38,000 and is struggling to clear the balance.
Villa Police Station
He, like the other victims, reported the incident at the Villa Police Station under OB number OB11/21/12/2021. He was given a P3 form and has not heard anything from the police. His unfinished house now lies in ruins as his family lives in makeshift tents like thousands of other evictees.
“I was badly beaten up. I was unconscious for two days and the bill is too big for my pockets. Do we really have a government to protect us?” he said.
That is the same question Mukuru residents are asking. They say the government has failed to keep its promise to issue them with title deeds, a pledge made by President Uhuru Kenyatta when he last visited the area nearly four years ago.
“President Uhuru Kenyatta, we want you to come and talk to us face to face like you did when you asked for our votes. Come and give us the titles as promised … Do not finish your term and leave us high and dry,” an elder said.
For now, the weather continues to threaten the residents’ pitched tents that have been their homes for the past three months. BY DAILY NATION
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