Nairobi: An infant allegedly beaten by security forces into a coma has become the latest symbol of the violence to sweep parts of Kenya following last week’s disputed presidential election.
Already facing anger over the shooting of a nine-year-old girl who was killed as she played on a third-floor balcony, Kenya’s police are facing renewed scrutiny after a raid in the city of Kisumu left Lenser Achieng’s six-month-old daughter fighting for her life.
Security personnel, deployed to crush opposition protests following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election, smashed their way into Mrs Achieng’s home during house-to-house raids on Saturday after her husband barricaded the front door, she said.
After beating him up, they turned on her, she told Kenya’s Star newspaper, which first reported the story yesterday.
“When I fell down, one of the officers hit the baby on the head with a club,” she was quoted as saying. “She became unconscious and I thought she was dead.”
An official at the Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu confirmed that the girl, who cannot be named, was in a “critical” condition after suffering internal bleeding.
With 180,000 personnel deployed over the election in what is believed to be the largest security operation in Kenya’s post-independence history, a high casualty rate seemed almost inevitable.
At least 24 people have been killed since last Tuesday’s election, mostly by the police, according to the government-appointed human rights body.
Activists said police had beaten up and sexually assaulted people during house raids. Police chiefs denied the allegations, and said only 10 people died.
Despite the volatility, there were tenuous signs of returning normality in the capital Nairobi yesterday.
Although the streets were more traffic-free than usual, there was little sign of widespread adherence to calls for a general strike by Raila Odinga, the opposition leader who claims to have been cheated of election victory for the third successive time.
But there were fears the calm could prove temporary with Mr Odinga set to announce a strategy, likely to involve street protests, today to attempt to overturn the president’s re-election.
