A mother’s pain as the first victim of Kenya’s deadly protests is buried

Nairobi, Kenya — Edith Wanjiku keeps one of the few photographs she has of her teenage son Ibrahim Kamau. Her life was cut short by two gunshot wounds to the neck suffered during Tuesday’s deadly protests in Kenya in which more than 20 people died.

Kamau, 19, was among thousands of protesters who stormed parliament as they called on lawmakers to vote against a finance bill that would increase taxes. The police opened fire and several people died instantly.

Kamau had just finished high school and planned to study electrical work.

“He was driving a motorcycle taxi while waiting to enter university,” Wanjiku told The Associated Press during his son’s funeral on Friday.

Kamau was the first victim of Tuesday’s protests to be buried in a Muslim ceremony attended by hundreds of people, including the area’s member of parliament, Yusuf Hassan.

As Wanjiku stood outside the Muslim cemetery in Nairobi’s Kariakor neighbourhood, she was overcome with emotions and had to be rushed to a sitting position.

“It is very painful. “I’m still in disbelief and still waiting for him to wake up,” she says.

The mother of four struggled to raise Kamau and her older sister by doing menial jobs while living in Nairobi’s Biafra slum.

“I don’t even have many photos of him, because I lost them when our house burned down a few years ago,” she says.

Tuesday’s deadly protests were called by young people who felt let down by lawmakers who voted in favor of a controversial finance bill during its second reading. They hoped to convince lawmakers not to pass the bill in the final vote, and when it passed, they stormed parliament and burned part of the building.

Human rights groups have accused police of brutality and killings during the protests. Police watchdog IPOA on Wednesday released preliminary findings into investigations into police conduct during protests that showed plainclothes officers shooting at protesters. The agency has summoned some agents to take statements.

Another victim of Tuesday’s shooting, Ian Keya, underwent surgery at a Nairobi hospital but “may never walk again,” his brother told the AP on Friday.

Keya was shot three times in the back by a plainclothes officer, according to witnesses who told her brother.

“The shots were at close range and one may have damaged his kidney while the other hit his spine,” his brother Edward told the AP.

Discontent among young people is growing even though President Willaim Ruto said he would not sign the controversial bill and would send it back to parliament to remove clauses that would increase taxes on common goods such as imported eggs, sanitary pads and diapers. to cover a budget deficit. .

Ruto was elected in 2022 on a platform of change and hope for young people. He promised to reduce the cost of living, but his decision to raise taxes in the 2023 finance bill and this recent one have made him unpopular.

Its vice president, Rigathi Gachagua, questioned Wednesday how a government that was the people’s “favorite” became so unpopular as to provoke an assault on parliament.

The president and his vice president are now betting on dialogue to give young people the opportunity to express their concerns and make suggestions. But the Generation Z movement that called for the protests has no leader and it is not yet clear how the dialogue will take place.

Ruto on Wednesday announced austerity measures including cutting his own travel and hospitality budget, which has been a major concern for young people struggling to get by.

For Wanjiku, all he wants is “justice for my son and for the president to ensure that no one else dies in this country.”