2 killed in Jubilee governor's meeting

Two people were killed on Friday in Bungoma Town when violence broke out between supporters of Governor Ken Lusaka of Jubilee Party and ODM’s Alfred Khang’ati along with Ford Kenya’s Wycliffe Wangamati.

The first victim was reportedly hit by a stray bullet as police tried to quell the chaos that engulfed the town for several hours.

Lusaka blamed his rivals saying his supporters were provoked and that the ODM candidate’s supporters were the ones who started to throw stones at them.

One of Lusaka’s bodyguards who reportedly fired the killer shot is in police custody as investigations into the matter are carried out.

Trouble started when youth supporting the opposition NASA engaged their Jubilee counterparts who were escorting Governor Lusaka who was heading for a rally at the Bungoma Posta Grounds.

Wangamati had just been cleared by IEBC and had just addressed the residents at the same venue.

Jubilee supporters, who were equally armed with crude weapons, had camped at Bungoma Posta Grounds for a function and had to repulse their rowdy and armed counterparts who allegedly attempted to attack them with sticks.

The second person is said to have died while being rushed to a nearby health centre after sustaining serious injuries during the skirmishes.

Khang’ati in turn blamed Jubilee’s Lusaka for the chaos saying that him and his supporters were obstructed and stoned when they were presenting their nomination papers to the Independent Electyoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) offices.

Nasa co-principal and Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetangula pointed an accusing finger at Internal Security Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery for being bias in handling security matters in the country.

“What is the duty of the police? Nkaissery has been dishing out warnings to Nasa leaders like cakes in the supermarket . Now we want to see how you are going to handle this situation,” a stern Wetangula said.

He said police cannot escort a governor who is on a warpath carrying crude weapons with death being an end result.