A section of Kisii University students have now condemned Kisii police officers for handling students in a ‘ruthless’ manner in during the post students union elections chaos.
Angry students had interrupted pronouncement of Jeff Mitei as the incoming union president citing anomalies but reportedly ignored by Returning Officer Francis Monari.
Speaking on Tuesday during the submission of an electoral petition challenging the outcome, Seth Anunda who came second in presidential polls led several other students to blame the police in the manner they handled the tension outside the main tallying center-Sagini.
“Students were calm and only called for postponement of announcement of the presidential winner. The police stationed in the university started shooting in the air, leading to skirmishes. They handled the situation ruthlessly without following procedures,” he said.
They called upon the police to take full responsibility of the outcome that saw property looted and recommended banning of the police from handling subsequent crisis in the institution.
“They should never be allowed to interfere with our internal problems especially in school. They have to take full responsibility of what happened. Many comrades ran away from school and we don’t want that to happen in future,” he added.
However, Kisii OCS Joseph Ndolo dismissed the students’ claims and insisted police were in order to intervene to avert possible massive losses.
“The officers responded in time and if they didn't, we could be talking of massive losses. We are paid to protect everyone including them (students)," Ndolo said.