August 9, 2017 remains etched in Benna Buluma’s mind. Something tragic happened in the life of the resident of Mathare slum in Nairobi County.
In a flick of a moment, she lost her two sons whom she says were caught in the fire during protests that followed claims of election fraud by Orange Democratic Movement leader Raila Odinga.
Bernard Okoth, 25 and Victor Okoth, 22 were killed by the police who used live bullets to disperse the protesters at Mathare Number 10, she says.
“They had alighted at Huruma (an estate near Mathare) from town (Nairobi city centre) at around 2pm.They had gone to look for money,” she explains.
Bernard was a tailor at Gikomba market, while Victor was a casual construction worker. On this day, she was expecting them back by 3pm as they had left their children with her. Unfortunately, they were caught up in the chaos as they walked down to their mother’s house. To their children.
Bernard had a three-year-old son waiting for him. While a one-year-old girl was counting seconds to be in her father’s arms again; dad Victor.
But then, at 3pm, Ms Buluma heard loud thunderous gunshots from the side of Mathare Number 10. She knew things were bad. But for her, things would soon turn out worse.
By 3.30pm she was unsettled. “Where are my sons?” she wondered.
Benna Buluma holds a portrait of her son,Victor Okoth,whom she says the police shot dead during a poll protest in Mathare slums, Nairobi county on August 9, 2017.Photo taken on April 11,2022 at her house in Mathare.Moraa Obiria/Nation Media Group.
She opted to make her way near where she had heard the gunshots to have a clear picture of the events.
Even before she would ask anyone what was happening, she heard a man say some young men “wameangushwa”, which would literally mean, “they have been fallen.”
Moments later, Victor’s wife, came running to her saying the same. At this point, she was confused. Another woman told her to go see for herself the crime scene. Together with her daughter-in-law, they went, only to be met by a life-changing moment that made her freeze in devastating shock. Her sons had been shot dead.
It was indeed a painful turning point in her life.
She buried her sons in Kisumu County in November, of the same year and returned to Nairobi to find more than 21 women crying for justice.
In her quest for justice, she joined Mathare Social Justice Centre, a community-based organisation that advocates for social justice and documents human rights violations.
It is here that she met the women, some whose sons had been killed by the police. Others tortured or raped by the officers.
These women had their cases followed up by a social justice organisation but they were too afraid to publicly speak against the violations for fear of reprisal. All their cases involve the police as the perpetrators.
But even in the depths of her pain, Ms Buluma offered to give them a voice.
In December 2017, they decided to form Mothers of Victims and Survivors Network, expanding the scope to Kayole, Mukuru, Kasarani, Kibera, Kariobangi and Dandora. She is the network’s convenor.
Now with more than 60 women under the umbrella body, Ms Buluma has since 2017, documented more than 30 new incidents of abuse of the rights of both gender in the slums.
Her case being among them and she has forwarded all of them to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA). But none of them has since been prosecuted, she says.
“Sometimes it feels like there is no need of monitoring and documentation these human rights violations. But when you remember what you have gone through, you tell yourself, ‘I’ll not stop until justice is delivered,’” she says.
Various organisations including Defenders Coalition have trained the women in the network on monitoring and documenting abuse of human rights violations, she says.
On many occasions, she has been intimidated especially when she visits the victims in their homes.
“You will see someone following you but that does not bother me. I am not afraid of death. They already killed my sons,” she says.
She asserts that: “If you remain silent you will never get help. Even if you say you won’t speak because you will be killed, if he wants to kill you, he will still kill you.”
She says the women are in “so much pain” because their cases have dragged on for too long yet the country is nearing another election.Yet to be concluded at the Milimani law courts are 21 cases of extrajudicial killings by the police, lodged by a social justice organisation on behalf of the women in the network. But hers is still at the hands of IPOA.
She says for her and her fellow women in the network, the mention of holding General Election on August 9, throws them into indescribable illness.
“Our bodies become weak. You walk around filled with anger. I walk around absent-minded,” she says.
“I feel totally abnormal but since I am a leader I’m forced to sober up and be strong for other women,” she explains.
For now, they are trying to find peace and solace in their network.
In June last year, they were lucky to find a sponsor who has rented a room for them in Mathare. The room has become a safe space for them to relieve each other’s pain.
The sponsor also provides a stipend that she spends to visit the victims who are in urgent need of consolation.
Her worry is if the donor withdraws support before they find a sustainable footing to continue doing the human rights work. Before 2017, she was a casual domestic worker in Eastleigh earning a monthly wage of Sh5,000.
She says, they want to start a peanut business but they are stuck at the point of taking off.
“We want to buy a peanut butter machine. But we have not found a place to install the machine because we don’t have money to rent a place,” she says.
This story was first published by Nation Media Group. This is not a reproduction but an amplification of the message.
Read the article of Nation Media Group page here https://nation.africa/kenya/news/gender/benna-buluma-lost-two-sons-in-2017-poll-chaos-she-now-dreads-august-9-3790652