By M, KNA
The family of a bodaboda rider allegedly shot dead by a senior police officer in Makongeni, Thika, is crying for justice, fearing the officer who allegedly shot him may interfere with the case.
Kennedy Ojumas family, where one of the riders killed on Sunday morning belong after a confrontation with an officer attached at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters said the officer could use his rank to derail the case.
Ojuma, 38, from Busia County, was allegedly shot by police constable Eric Gitonga on Sunday morning in Makongeni area in Thika.
Witnesses claim Gitonga, believed to have been intoxicated, rammed into a motorcycle carrying a passenger. When riders and locals confronted him, he allegedly pulled out his firearm and opened fire on the crowd. Ojuma was shot in the chest and abdomen, while another rider, Stephen Mwendwa Maweu, 39, was also shot and died on the spot.
Ojuma’s widow, Nancy Bosibori, said family members were blocked from accompanying the body to the General Kago Hospital mortuary.
“Even when his body was being taken to the mortuary, we were not allowed to accompany him. We fear some things are not being done right,” Bosibori said.
Bosibori, who is pregnant and raising an eight-year-old child, described her husband as the family’s bread winner.
“Ken was not a criminal. His only mistake was questioning why the officer had knocked his colleague’s motorcycle. Now I don’t know how I will raise our children alone,” she said tearfully.
The family has appealed to well-wishers to support them financially for the postmortem, transport of the body to Busia, and a decent burial.
“We are pleading with well-wishers to help out. Hopeless as we are, we are financially crippled,” Bosibori added.
Ojuma’s mother, Margaret Najala, devastated by the murder, said her son was the family’s main provider. “He was the second-born in a family of six and our only support. His death has shattered our lives. We don’t even know how to take his body home,” she said.
The family called on the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), the Human Rights Commission as well as the Law Society of Kenya to help ensure justice is served.
Meanwhile, bodaboda riders in Thika have condemned the shooting, terming it an extreme act of impunity.
For now, Ojuma’s family remains trapped in grief and poverty, clinging to hope that justice will prevail and that support will come to give their kin a dignified sendoff