Nairobi, KENYA: The Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) has launched investigations into an incident where an Administration Police (AP) officer allegedly shot dead a bodaboda operator at Mama Lucy hospital on Tuesday in Nairobi.
According to witnesses, the bodaboda operator Daniel Mburu Wangari, had rushed a two-and-a-half-year-old child and his mother to the hospital after the boy fell into a river in Korogocho while playing with his friends.
The scuffle began when Mburu went back to take his motorcycle from where he had parked it. The guards refused to give him the bike telling him that that was not a parking area.
Witnesses say the guards then asked for a sh.50 bribe from Mburu, which he said he did not have, to allow him take his motorcycle.
According to the witnesses, the guards were adamant that Mburu must pay the sh.50. A scuffle then ensued and Mburu was overpowered by the guards, who then called police officers and claimed Mburu was an unruly intruder.
AP officers arrived when the guards were taking Mburu to their post at the gate. One of the officers then took his gun and shot him in the chest then walked away.
The mother to the child, Agnes Waheti, said after taking the child to the doctor, Mburu was asked to leave. She then heard a commotion then saw David Mburu, the good Samaritan who had heard her distress call and rushed her child to hospital, being dragged by security guards.
“I rushed to find out what was happening and found them asking him why he rode in with the motorbike. They took him to the security office then I heard a gunshot. He was then taken to the casualty already dead,” she said.
IPOA dispatched a rapid response team to the scene to begin investigations.
