This archive report was first published on 25 September 2021.
On September 25, 2021, a chaotic scene unfolded on Kirinyaga Road and parts of downtown Nairobi, leaving a boda boda rider dead and a police officer fighting for his life at the Nairobi West Hospital.
According to eyewitnesses, the trouble started at around 10 am when a 30-year-old Rabin Patel Ogeto was flagged down by a police officer on patrol for riding on the wrong side of Kirinyaga road. The officer allegedly demanded a bribe, which Ogeto refused, leading to an altercation and the officer shooting him dead.
"The officer stopped Ogeto and demanded a bribe. Ogeto said he did not have any money and an altercation started. The officer shot him dead," claimed Dennis Achieng, chairman of the United Bodaboda Association, Nairobi.
However, the police have a different version of events. Central Police Deputy OCPD, Dorris Kemey, said the officer, Elijah Mutunga, 26, was in the company of his colleagues on patrol when they were attacked by a mob of boda boda riders. The police claim that one of the protestors attempted to snatch a gun from the officer, but it is unclear at what point the fatal shot was fired.
"The bodaboda rider was shot and unfortunately we lost him. The police officer was subjected to mob injustice. According to eyewitnesses, they started assaulting the police officer," the police boss said.
The incident has sparked outrage among the boda boda community, with some riders claiming that there has been bad blood between them and the law enforcers who have been preying on them and demanding bribes. The chairman of the Umberalla Bodaboda Association of Kenya, Thomas Lesaatin, has called for the police officer responsible for Ogeto's killing to be apprehended and has issued a one-week ultimatum for action to be taken.
