'He went to see bodies pulled from Kware, but took a police bullet'

Hours earlier, tension between police officers and Kware residents had erupted into a violent exchange over the bodies in the dumpsite.

Kioko, then a 25-year-old father of one, was shot as police officers tried to disperse the crowd.

After leaving hospital, he filed a complaint with the Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (IPOA).

IPOA did not respond to the Nation’s queries on the progress or status of the complaint Kioko filed against officers at Kware police station.

He also filed a complaint at the Kware police station.

Nearly two years later, he has not been informed of progress of investigations into either of the two complaints.

Unable to work normally following permanent damage from the injuries sustained in the incident, Kioko carries physical and psychological scars with him every day, with the brush with death etched vividly in his memory.

Also Read: Kware killings - Murder cases reduce to 6 from 42 

Kioko and his young family were evicted from their house after rent defaults at a time his wife was still recovering from the Caesarean section birth of their child.

Gracefully, one of his in-laws opened her doors to the young family. Some money his wife gets from casual laundry jobs at times helps put food in their mouths.

Police would later claim that Collins Jumaisi, a Kware resident, had killed 42 women and dumped their bodies at the site.

Jumaisi strolled out of Gigiri police station on August 20, 2024 as investigations into the incident were still ongoing. He is still missing, with police last year offering a reward for any information that would lead to Jumaisi’s arrest and prosecution.

Body parts in plastic bags

A month earlier, Kware residents had just discovered several body parts stuffed in multiple plastic bags in the dumpsite. As a section of divers retrieved the bodies from the water-logged dumpsite, tension was simmering between police and residents.

After the first set of body parts was found inside a bag, the retrievers sought to transport them to the Nairobi Funeral Home, with a section of residents in tow. By this time, Kioko had asked his wife to go back home and tend to their newborn baby.

The only route out of the area and towards Nairobi Funeral Home was through a road leading to the police station.

Also Read: Kware deaths - Pain, tears as families identify mutilated bodies

Suddenly, Kioko adds, police officers fired teargas canisters at the crowd, triggering chaos and eventually the gunfire.

Kioko ran through a field that leads into the larger Mukuru Kwa Jenga slums.

Amid the chaos, Kioko felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, but the adrenaline pumping through his veins could not allow him to stop.

After losing a lot of blood, dizziness set in and Kioko asked for help. A man and a woman heeded the call and directed him to a nearby washroom. On removing his belt, a small metallic object fell to the ground and Kioko thought it was a coin. He was dizzy at this point.

Kioko seemed to have spent a lot of time in there, and the woman came to check on him. She realised that he was not well. She and the other man rushed Kioko to hospital. When trying to trace what he thought was a coin, Kioko spotted a bullet, and reality immediately dawned on him.

“At that time blood was all over the toilet and it kept on oozing. I just answered that I had been injured and all I needed was to be taken to hospital. I asked them to take me to hospital. There were now journalists around and they all appeared concerned,” Kioko said.

By the time he reached a clinic within Mukuru Kwa Jenga, he was in critical condition.

He was ushered into a small ward and placed on a bed. That is when he knew all was not well.

“I started crying asking them to call my mother so as she could take me to another hospital as the doctors had advised after taking me through first aid,” Kioko added.

Also Read: Kware killings - My last moments with my dear daughter

Members of the public, including some of the journalists, raised enough money to hail a taxi which took Kioko to Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, in the company of the stranger who had helped Kioko find a public toilet.

By that time he arrived at Mama Lucy Hospital, his mother had been contacted, but thought it was a hoax as her children had never attended any protests. Hearing Kioko screaming in pain in the background, however, shocked her into action.

Kioko arrived at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital in critical condition, but the facility demanded some payment before treating him.

As Kioko’s family was trying to raise funds, police officers arrived at the hospital.

“The officers asked for someone who had been shot and brought to the facility. It's then that we realised that something was not okay because that never happens,” a medical practitioner at the facility who spoke in confidence due to the sensitivity of the matter said.

The police officers did not disclose why they wanted to speak to Kioko.

Suspecting foul play, the medical practitioners kept moving Kioko from one room to the next, keeping him from the police officers.

The last thing Kioko remembers is being wheeled into theatre after his family raised the required funds, with surgeons standing over him before he passed out.

Kioko regained consciousness the following day at noon.

Amid the pain, uncertainty, and long hours on the hospital bed, kIOKO found solace in music. He says he would constantly listen to songs by Guardian Angel, drawing particular strength from Wakati wa Mungu.

He stayed at the facility until August 22, 2024 when he was discharged.

Doctors advised that his recovery would depend heavily on a drab, limiting diet – plain rice.

Since then, that has been his daily meal.

In addition to the predicament, the shooting also caused him hearing impairment. He says he experienced some hearing loss and tinnitus, a perception of a ringing sound.

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