The body of a woman who was shot dead last week in Bungoma after violence erupted between two political camps has been taken to Uganda for burial. Alice Khaemba, 37, was killed by a stray bullet when supporters of Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka and aspirant Wycliffe Wangamati clashed in Bungoma town on Friday last week.
Family spokesperson Rose Josephine said they will bury Khaemba in her home in Sirongo, Eastern Uganda. “We wanted to give our sister a befitting sendoff, according to our traditions,” she said.
A police officer attached to the Bungoma deputy governor was arrested and his gun confiscated. County commissioner Joshua Chepcheng told the Star that all the guns that had been used by the riot police during the incident have been submitted for forensic tests. “We are waiting for the results,” he said.
A section of politicians had reportedly planned to stage protests once the woman’s body was released from the mortuary. But the family secretly took away the body and kept politicians out of the picture.
“It is painful that we lost our sister through political violence. Some people wanted to use her body in protests and that’s why we kept it a family affair,” Josephine said. Sources told the Star that police might have prevailed upon the family to keep politicians out of the matter for fear of protests.