IEBC Official's Leg Amputated After Being Shot 3 Times

Ahmed had his leg amputated after the gunmen stormed the Eldas Constituency Development Fund (CDF) offices, and one of the assailants had donned full police regalia.

Marvin Chege Marvin Chege
Aug 19, 2022 - 07:01 Updated: Aug 19, 2022 - 07:02
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IEBC Official's Leg Amputated After Being Shot 3 Times
IEBC officials guiding voters at a polling station. /FILE

An Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Presiding Officer in charge of Towheed polling station in Elnur Tula Tula Ward in Eldas constituency, Mohammed Ahmed Qanyare, was shot three times by unknown gunmen.

Ahmed had his leg amputated after the gunmen stormed the Eldas Constituency Development Fund (CDF) offices, and one of the assailants had donned full police regalia.

Explaining what happened, Ahmed told Citizen TV that he was prepared to carry out polls at the assigned area before the gunmen attacked the polling station.

"Some officer entered the room ordering the lights to be switched off. He later ordered us to lie down near the podium where electoral officers were sitting.

"I took a few steps back and lay down. An officer came from nowhere and shot me and left me crying for help," he said, adding that the gunman shot him three times in the leg and failed to disclose why he was carrying out the heinous act.

Ahmed suffered life-threatening gunshot injuries which forced doctors to amputate his right leg. He suffered vascular injuries and his bone was shattered, according to doctors who attended to him.

The main artery supplying blood to the lower limb was severed, leaving doctors with no option but to amputate his leg.

While recuperating at the Wajir County Referral Hospital, Ahmed and his family have urged investigations to be fast-tracked and for the government to bring the culprits to book.

Elections in that region were marred with chaos, forcing the commission to suspend the exercise until Wednesday.

It took the intervention of Abdi Guliye who took a flight to Eldas to resolve the issues which allowed the voting exercise to commence, albeit on the following day.

The incident also attracted the attention of the Independent Policing and Oversight Authority (IPOA), which had also cited a woman assaulted allegedly by the police in Eldas in Wajir County.

Kenyan riot police patrol a street after dispersing University of Nairobi students protesting in Nairobi on September 28, 2017. /CAPITAL GROUP

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