Day Machakos said
'NO' to Impunity  |
| Touts atop a matatu as they protested in Machakos Town |
They arrest followed weeks of tension in the town that saw looting, damage of property and mayhem between citizens and the Police that has never been witnessed in the town.
The tout was first arrested at the bus park and taken to Machakos Police Station where he allegedly fled, sparking a chase by the askaris. Those who saw the chase claim they saw the askaris raining blows on the tout after the caught up with him. Police declined to detain him in their cells as he seemed unwell. He died on arrival at Machakos General Hospital
To many observers, it manifested the failure of a government of the Wiper Democratic Party to manage a municipality as the council went without the money raised from its bus park for a good three days before a normalcy returned.
To arrest the four suspects, it took the conducting of three autopsies on the body of the tout, Mr Makau Mutua who died on January 31 allegedly after being beaten by the askaris. It showed that some powerful forces were at play or that the police was not willing to discharge their role independently.
The first autopsy was done on the same day and it is alleged the result showed that the tout may have died out of underfeeding, sparking protests that some interested parties had brathed into the report to temper with the truth.
But the truth emerged after the second autopsy by Dr Geoffrey Zambezi Mutuma on February 8,2012.
His report says the stomach of the deceased was not available. However, Dr Mutuma remarked that in bold print that “ there was a huge haematoma measuring 50 cm by 30cm in maximum dimensions in the interio-lateral side of the left thigh from the iliac crest to the knee joint. There was both intra muscular bleeding and haematoma formation. There was evidence of hip joint dislocation”. Dr Mutuma added that there was also a wound on the right hip joint region measuring upto 5cm.
In other words, Dr Mutuma observed significant injuries( that he describes as Huge Haematoma) on parts of the body that facilitate body movement(Locomotor system) that led to bleeding.
He made a significant finding that the cause of death was “ Bleeding in the thigh muscle following blunt trauma”. “ The cause of death of this young man can be explained as bleeding into the thigh muscles. This was most likely due to rapture of the femoral artery following blunt trauma to the interior-latral thigh region”, he stated and added “ There was no evidence to suggest the death of this person was any other thing other than bleeding into th thigh region following blunt trauma”.
A third autopsy concurred after the pathologist merely checked through the notes of Dr Mutuma to confirm whether his finding could stand the test of time. And they did!
So when Machakos Residents, led by the matatu operators mobilized for a strike after the first post-mortem, they must have known that it as a dubious as its authors and propagators. For there is no way, they argued, that the touts who go without food at the bus park to the extend that one could easily die out of hunger.
It emerged that resistance from Town Hall in the arrest of the askaris had much to do with the relationships that exist between the council staff and their political and administrative bosses.
Residents could easily see the link between the dubious post-mortem, the beating that the boy got, his subsequent death, the council’s defence of its constabulary and the reluctance by the police to arrest the council askaris.
To them, it epitomized what one of the matatu owners called a “ reign of terror” by municipal askaris on matatu operators in Machakos that makes them to be more dreaded than the police.
It alleged that touts and drivers are beaten habitually at the park, their vehicles impounded and hefty fines slapped on them without justification. Town Clerk Sheikh Abdulahi denies the claims, saying the council staff were merely discharging their responsibility of having an orderly bus park.
The protests in Machakos were a clear statement that never again will authorities take citizens for granted. So determined was the protest that burial plans were shelved until the day the arrests were effected and the culprits taken to court.
All eyes will now be fixed to the Courts to ensure that justice is done to all parties as there is still suspicion that thee exercise was a Public Relations gimmick.
For the two days of tension, armed police were deployed to keep vigil at the council offices following threats by matatu crews that they will collect the body of their colleague and dump it in the council’s compound to push for the arrest of the council askaris.
