LT 3 crossfire ends chaotically

Confusion as crossfire degenerates into chaos

By Elvis Ondieki

The crossfire session organized yesterday in LT 3 ended on a chaotic note after a student who rose to ask the last question of the session caused ripples in the building. Below is an account of events. 

≈ 4.50 p.m.: Last Secretary General candidate to be called to the podium, Mr. Okeri Victor, stands up amid cheering from the audience. He gives his speech over noisy cheers.

≈ 4.53: Okeri is done with his speech. There comes a time for questions. One student asks his, and then another student is given the microphone. The student goes against the norm by going to the platform. He hugs Okeri before he begins speaking. He talks of a certain entrepreneur in campus and before he consummates his point, Students’ Electoral Comission (SEC) officials stop him from speaking in a move likely to stop him from speaking ill of someone. 

The student refuses to hand over the mic willingly. Getting it off his hands leaves the mic decapitated. When the mic is handed to the Zungu Sounds proprietor to be checked, he realizes that the mic can not be repaired. 

The SEC officials decide to get hold of the student so as to ensure he is held responsible for the destruction of the wireless mic. They move him out in a move akin to putting him under arrest, which triggers immediate uproar.  

Okeri tries to respond to questions asked to him but attention is shifted to the arrest spectacle.

4.56: Part of the audience starts complaining over the ‘arrest’ of the student. They shout, “Freedom! Freedom!” Irate students disrupt order by jumping to the space reserved for those addressing the audience. The SEC is unable to contain the situation. 

The SEC Chairman Mr. Moses Orang’o tries in vain to control the situation.

Mr. Dominic Karega, former Muso Chairman, goes to the podium, inviting more shouts and chants. He is talking in an animated manner; angered over the ‘arrest of a student. Shouts send him out, and he later claims that some students roughed him up in the process.

Students start shouting “Haki yetu,” demanding for the immediate release of the student restrained by SEC officials. 

5.00: Mr. Orang’o signals the crowd that the meeting is over. 

The student is taken off the SEC’s custody after parting with his student’s ID. He is lifted shoulder high; amid shouts.

Okeri, too, is lifted by supporters.

5.11: All the students have left the lecture theatre, leaving SEC officials in a consultation meeting.

Mr. Karega comes back to the theatre, complaining spiritedly. He tells off the officials who try to restrain him: “Nimeona SEC mingi,” he says. He complains that the manhandled student is crying. He wonders why the SEC took the student’s ID card. He tells SEC to give people equal chances tomorrow.

5.15: Students gather in hordes on the road alongside LT 2. Campaigners for different aspirants spiritedly try to sing for those they support. Others gather around the area.   

  

5.19: Two conflicting parties on the zebra crossing by LT 2 have a disagreement and a commotion arises, making students run in different directions. SEC officials rush to calm the situation.  

Students assemble in scores, chatting over the turn of events. 

SEC Chairman’s say over the matter

Speaking to journalists after the commotion, the Students’ Electoral Commission (SEC) chairman Mr. Moses Orang’o said he could not cancel the questioning part in the next crossfire session. He pointed out that no aspirant could be penalised over the matter.

He added that the questioning section of today’s crossfire will require those asking questions to be more direct.

“We will try to rectify the mistakes we committed yesterday,” said the chairman in a phone interview.