| Written by Daniel Saenyi |
|
JKUAT
students blocking the Bogani road after one of the Karen Campus students
was knocked dead by an overspeeding car. [Photo|Daniel Saenyi]
Students
of Jomo Kenyatta University Karen Campus poured to the streets blocking
the Bogani road completely for over three hours protesting the death of
one of their colleagues who was knocked dead by a private car.
During the car accident, another student was injured and is nursing his wounds at a Nairobi hospital.
The
students complained of negligence as they have been complaining of the
narrow road for over a year and over speeding by motorists but all has
fallen on deaf ears.
The
driver of the over speeding car tried to speed away but was intercepted
by the angry students who threatened to lynch him before he was rescued
by police who arrived on time to save him from the enraged students.
In addition, the students were incensed as they had to call for an ambulance on their own to save the life of the girl student.
On
the morning of Oct 18, 2011 students were assembled by the campus
principal to urge them to remain calm about the incident, a move which
seemed to have worked in reverse as the students immediately took off to
the roads to protest.
They barricaded Langata South road for over n three
hours stopping traffic. School officials promised to ask the City
Council to start building bumps along the road immediately.
However students did not seem to agree as they started throwing stones prompting police to unleash teargas against them.
It
was a hide and seek game with the police for a while and the police
finally managed to take control of the situation and no student was
injured in the protest.
This
has come as a challenge for the recently elected student council and
seems they have gotten quite a handful in their first week in office.
It is up to the student leaders to try and make students calm down as learning has been interrupted.
The
campus has been closed down until Monday Oct 24, 2011 when classes will
hopefully resume amidst threats by some students that if no repairs are
made on the road by Monday they will definitely protest again.
