Students of Kitale National Polytechnic stormed the Kitale County Referral mortuary removing body of their colleague who had been knocked down on Sunday.
Business in Kitale town was paralyzed on Monday morning as irate students of Kitale National Polytechnic stormed Kitale County Referral Mortuary following an accident that claimed th life of their colleague.
Eddy Ptenda, the deceased, was knocked down near the institution by boda boda rider and was rushed to Kitale County County Hospital where he died while undergoing treatment.
Enraged students stormed out of the institution and marched to the morgue where they took Ptenda’s body and paraded it on the busy Kitale-Kapenguria highway.
The visibly agitated students addressed the media noting that the boda boda riders rode recklessly resulting in the death.
They called on the government through traffic officers to enforce traffic rules so as to avert similar incidents in future.
“This is a sad day for us. We have lost our colleague through reckless riding and no action has been taken against the culprit,” they said.
They called on the county and national government to lay down speed bumps as it was not the first incident.
“We have lost our colleague because of over-speeding and ignorance of the rider to follow the traffic rules. We are not going to allow this to continue,” protested Ken Ochieng, one of the student leaders.
The students charged towards a boda boda stage seemingly to engage them in a physical fight prompting some of the riders to run away for safety.
Trans Nzoia County Police commander Jacinta Wesonga mobilized riot police to quell the situation as the violence brought business to a standstill.
Several students were arrested by police after they defied orders to clear the streets.
The principal Kitale National Polytechnic John Akola described the death and confrontation as unfortunate owing to the fact that the institution had offered driving scholarships to some of the riders.
“We are asking Boda Boda riders to ensure they exercise professionalism when they are on the road,” Akola said.
“We have had a good working relationship between the institution and the riders. We offered some riders scholarships to secure good driving skills to create a friendly environment and it is disheartening that we have lost a life,” said Akola.
