Two people are nursing serious gun shot wounds at Wajir Referral Hospital after police opened fire at demonstrators in Barwaqo area in the outskirts of Wajir town.
The two were among a group of angry residents who had intercepted a convoy of relief food destined to the area.
One of those injured, Abubakar Ismail, who had a bullet lodged between his pelvis and bladder, was rushed to Garissa County Referral Hospital.
The confrontation saw several vehicles including those of the police and county government destroyed.
The genesis of the problem was that the residents allegedly did not want the relief food distributed by the county government.
They said the food was contaminated and not fit for human consumption.
Police engaged them for the better part of mid-morning trying to disperse the rowdy crowd which had barricaded the road. Several police officers were injured in the commotion.
One of the residents who spoke on condition of anonymity said the food which included rice and cooking fat expired in February.
The Star could not independently verify the claims since the sacks containing the information were hurriedly burnt.
But another source said the cause of the demonstration was political as members of the Ajuran clan were angry with the governor for failing to support one of their own in the recent Wajir West by-election.
“Truth be told, the protest has nothing to do with the relief food. The real issue here is that we are still angry with the governor for supporting a Degodia candidate in the recent by-election in Wajir West instead of reciprocating by supporting our own since we had fully backed him in the 2017 polls. We don’t want anything to do with his administration,” an angry resident said.
The residents condemned police for using excessive force to stop the protestors. They demanded that action be taken against officers found culpable.
Efforts to get a comment from the Wajir governor or county commissioner Lyford Kibaara did not bear fruit.
