Many people including four police officers were injured at Simba Chai Trading Centre in Teso South, Busia County when a meeting convened to vet people taking Identity Cards turned chaotic.
Teso South OCPD Paul Odede confirmed that four of his officers received slight injuries after being stoned by irate youth who were protesting after being denied registration due to certain anomalies.
A youth sustained severe head injuries after allegedly being beaten by a police officer using a club. “Police started beating us indiscriminately forcing us to run helter-skelter,” a youth who was caught in the pandemonium said.
Odede said the police moved in to rescue elders who were vetting the youth after some of them with no vital documents including birth certificates insisted on wanting to be vetted.
“We could not compromise the security of the country by allowing people without proper documentation to be vetted. This is a border county,” he said.
Amukura Central Ward MCA Patrick Ombo said the Registrar of person’s vetted youth between 18 and 24 years and declined to vet those above 24 years without the vetting committee.
Ombo said over 300 youths with waiting cards have not received their IDs since mid-October last year with only a week to the end of the Mass Voter Registration exercise.
The MCA said registration of births and deaths was done in Amagoro, Teso North but the exercise had stalled due to lack of leaflets for the issuance of birth and death certificates.
Parents in Amagoro are also up in arms over a lack of leaflets. “We are worried our children might not register for KCPE exams if we fail to obtain their birth certificates. We are appealing to the National Government to intervene and have the matter resolved,” he said.
