One man was killed and six others badly injured in anti-government demonstrations in Kenya. The country’s opposition has been protesting every Mondays against an alleged bias of Kenya’s electoral commission.
It is the fifth Monday, that Kenya’s opposition rallied in major cities to protest against the country’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and its alleged bias towards Uhuru Kenyatta’s ruling Jubilee Coalition. In city of Kisumu, western Kenya, one man who was said to have a visible bullet wound was killed after clashes between protesters and police. According to the Red Cross, six protesters suffering gunshot wounds were taken to hospital.
“We cannot have police shooting people every other time they are exercising their rights,” one protester told news agencies. Another Kisumu resident said: “Last time they shot someone dead and claimed he suffered injuries as he was falling down. What will they say today after the death of this man because he was clearly shot?”
Ahead of Kenya’s elections in August 2017, the opposition coalition CORD, had demanded a change in leadership and a reform of the electoral commission. On Friday, opposition leader Raila Odinga met President Uhuru Kenyatta, to discuss the matter, yet the negotiations failed and the opposition leaders vowed to hold further protests every Monday.
Kenyan police had initially banned the protests and warned that they were prepared to use force against the protesters. Kenya’s High Court on Monday however said that the protests were legal.
Kenya’s government last week condemned the protests, saying that the opposition should voice their demands through constitutional means, which would include filing a petition on the matter in parliament. Meanwhile the electoral commission denied any bias.
