Why 2017 poll violence victims are still crying out for justice

Lydia Shitadi and her daughter Mary Shantel at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu in 2017.

Three years ago, Mary Shantel was a healthy three-year-old girl enjoying her young life like any other child.

Now six years old, Shantel is no longer the bubbly girl she was. She now appears jittery and a tard detached.

It’s been three years since Shantel was hit on her left shoulder by a stray bullet as she played at home during the violence that rocked the 2017 presidential elections.

She was rushed to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) where the bullet was extracted. According to the medical report, both her lungs appeared normal and she was discharged two days after the bullet was removed.

When Sunday Standard caught up with her at Nyamasaria slums in Kisumu, her face expressed pain, she looked dull and most of the time she seemed to have lost touch with her surroundings.

Her mother Lydia Shitadi, said two months after the bullet was removed, Shantel’s condition worsened. She was rushed to hospital where medics advised her to take her to a private facility for further assessment.

“They told me the hospital had no capacity to handle my daughter’s delicate case, but I am unable to take her to a private hospital due to financial constraints,” she said.

Shantel was given painkillers and that’s all she went home back with. Her condition has been worsening every day and the pain is becoming unbearable. 

“Every day is different. Sometimes she loses memory while on some days she becomes too weak even to walk. But what scares us is the severe chest pains she gets,” Shitadi said.

Police bullet

However, her effort to seek justice for her child remains a pipe dream. She hangs on the hope that those responsible for what her daughter is going through at the moment, will one day be held accountable.

Issa Owour, a resident of Manyatta slums, is another victim of a police bullet.

He recalled the day he was shot by police officers engaged in a running battle with protestors, with a lot of pain. He was then a second-year Electric Engineering student at Kisumu Polytechnic and was on his way home the day he was shot.

“I was a few metres away from home and everything happened in a fraction of a second. I fell down and started bleeding then I heard voices from a distance shouting that I had been hit,” Owour recalled.

Owour lost consciousness and on waking up he was at JOOTRH. A medical report indicated he had hemothorax – collection of blood between the chest wall and lungs and tubes had to be inserted to drain the blood. 

“I was paying my school fees since I am an orphan. After the incident I had to drop off from school since I could no longer cater for my education,” he said.

An x-ray of her shoulder where the bullet was lodged. [File, Standard]

Owour said he has given up on getting justice because since he recorded statements in March 2018 with the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), and Independent Medical Legal Unit (IMLU), nothing has been forthcoming.

“They told me they would get back after recording our statements. We attended several meetings whenever we were requested, but it looks like it was all in vain,” Owour said.

Joseph Manyaka’s story is not different from that of Owuor. He was then a Form Two student at Highway Secondary School in Kisumu. He was hit by a stray bullet on his right thigh.

The bullet was extracted at JOOTH and discharged a few days after but that put to an end his dream of becoming a footballer.  According to IPOA, 74 complaints of police brutality in Kisumu and its environs were recorded during that period. Records show 14 people died, 16 sustained gunshot injuries, 40 cases of assault were reported while there were four complaints of robbery allegedly committed by police officers.

Court verdict

Speaking to Sunday Standard, the agency’s chairperson Anne Makori said to date, two cases have been concluded in court following IPOA’s recommendations. One case is in court and another is under final internal review before forwarding to the Director of Public Prosecution while the rest are at various investigation stages.

Makori said in one of the concluded cases, IPOA investigated the death of Baby Pendo during a police operation in Nyalenda slums in August 2017.

She said IPOA recommended an inquest which was heard at the Magistrates Court in Kisumu. “The court concluded that the baby’s death was caused by police action and indicted 35 police officers (including five commanders) and ordered appropriate action be taken against them. The ruling further said an additional 16 police officers be treated as ‘persons of interest’,” said Makori.

However, she indicated that IPOA is facing numerous challenges in discharging its duties.