Edith Wanjiku holds onto one of the few photos she’s left with of her teenage son Ibrahim Kamau. His life was cut short by two gunshot wounds to his neck that were sustained during Kenya’s deadly protests on Tuesday in which more than 20 people were killed.
The 19-year-old Kamau was among thousands of protesters who stormed parliament while calling for legislators to vote against a finance bill that would increase taxes. Police opened fire and several people were killed on the spot.
Kamau had just completed high school and planned to study electrical works.
“He was operating a motorcycle taxi while he waits to join college,” Wanjiku told The Associated Press during her son’s funeral on Friday.
Kamau was the first victim of Tuesday's protests to be buried in a Muslim ceremony that was attended by hundreds, including the area's member of parliament, Yusuf Hassan.
As Wanjiku stood outside the Muslim cemetery in Nairobi’s Kariakor neighborhood, she was overwhelmed by emotions and had to be whisked away to sit down.
“It is so painful. I’m still in disbelief and keep hoping he will wake up,” she says.
The mother of four struggled to educate Kamau and his older sister by doing menial work while living in Nairobi’s Biafra slum.
“I don’t even have many photos of him, because I lost them when our house burned down some years back,” she says.
Tuesday’s deadly protests were called by young people who felt let down by legislators who voted for a controversial finance bill during its second reading. They had hoped to convince the legislators not to pass the bill in the final vote and when it sailed through, they stormed into parliament and burnt part of the building.
Human rights groups have accused police of brutality and killings during the protests. The policing oversight body IPOA on Wednesday released preliminary findings on investigations into police conduct during the protests that showed plainclothes officers shooting at protesters. The body has summoned some officers to record statements.
