Raila claims assassination attempt during Thursday demonstrations

Azimio La Umoja One Kenya Coalition leader, Raila Odinga, made allegations of an assassination attempt on his life during anti-government protests in Nairobi on Thursday.

Speaking to the media in Karen, Raila claimed that his car had been shot at seven times with live ammunition, which he believes was a direct attempt on his life.

He criticised the government led by President William Ruto, accusing it of taking the country back to pre-colonial times with what he called attacks against peaceful demonstrators exercising their democratic rights.

He condemned strongly the use of force by the police against unarmed citizens, stating that it was reminiscent of the colonial era when African lives did not matter.

“We condemn in the strongest terms possible what has happened today. Today is a very sad day in the history of this country. This shows that we’re degenerating into the colonial stage, where lives of Africans did not matter at all, because there’s no reason why police should use this kind of force against unarmed citizens who are merely exercising their democratic rights,” Raila said.

“My own car was hit seven times with live bullets, and the direction of the bullets were all aimed at me. These people have been threatening and blackmailing us, unfortunately the friends of this country are not helping. Look at the statement released by some ambassador based here, you would think that they live in a different country; they’re actually adding fuel to this conflict, instead of being independent and neutral arbiters.”

Raila expressed his disapproval of the attacks on journalists who were reporting on the protests, pointing out that the media was being targeted for attack.

“It is very unfortunate that in the whole of these skirmishes, the media is being targeted for attack. The other day and today, several journalists have been injured,” he said.