Kenyan opposition leader teargassed amid protests

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga on Monday was teargassed together with thousands of supporters from the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) alliance as they tried to storm the capital Nairobi’s offices of an election authority.

The supporters were demanding that members of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) resign ahead of the 2017 elections. Odinga earlier in the day accused President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government of opposing reforms for a new democratic electoral system.

Riot police in Nairobi filled the streets with teargas in an effort to disperse the protesters.

Odinga was bundled into a waiting vehicle by his security team after he was caught in the thick of the teargas.

Boniface Khalwale, Kakamega senator and a leader of the CORD alliance, argued that the commission was being controlled by the government.

“We did not come to fight the police or the government, we came to meet an independent commission. Why is the commission being controlled by the government?” he asked reporters on Monday.

Traffic came to a standstill in the capital for the better part of the rainy Monday afternoon as anti-riot police officers tried to disperse the protesters.

CORD leaders accused the commission of rigging the 2013 general elections in favor of Kenyatta’s Jubilee Alliance. After a challenge was heard by the Supreme Council, Kenyatta was named president of the Republic of Kenya.