Voters injured in stampede
By Lucianne Limo and Peterson Githaiga
More than 20 people were injured as an anxious crowd forced open the main gate to St Monica Catholic Church polling station, Kitengela in Kajiado County.
The injured, mostly women who were trampled upon by more than 200 people, were rushed to St Teresa dispensary for treatment which luckily is opposite the polling station.
Police fired live bullets to scare the crowd that was chaotic and unruly as they tried to forcefully enter the polling station.
The huge number of voters who had arrived at the polling station as early as 3am scampered for safety when police shot in the air several times.
Voters who managed to get into the polling station then started hurling stones at those outside the gate.
The St Monica's polling station has one of the highest number of voters numbering 25,000 voters.
A witness said the number of casualties would have been worse if police had not scared the unruly crowd by shooting in the air.
"There was no order. The crowd had become anxious and were surging towards the gate. A stampede ensued when they forced the gate open and many people were trampled on when they fell down," said Samson Kamau.
Kamau said the electoral body did not take into consideration number of voters in the station by deploying enough police and clerks to ensure order and protocol is observed during voting.
"The police were overwhelmed by the crowd. One of the women was pushed and when she leaned on a police officer, he pushed her away," he lamented.
Janet Waruguru who was nursing neck and leg injuries said she will not vote as she was traumatized by the mishap.
"I saw death. I fell down and many people especially huge men fell on me crashing me on the ground, "she said.
The dispensary was overwhelmed by the number of casualties with only three nurses, as members of the red cross society had not arrived at the scene.