As Kenya heads for a fierce election, many are worried about the repeated deadly violence seen in past votes. The Kenyan group "Mothers of Victims and Survivors" is calling on all sides to maintain peace during this year's poll.
Benablema, also known as Mama Victor, grabs a photo of her two sons who died in her temporary housing in the Macea section of Nairobi.
Election times bring painful memories to the 48-year-old widow.
August 9, 2017, her sons. The day after the presidential election, police crackdowns on election protests in the area killed both young men Benard and Victor Okoto. Five years later, the murderer is not yet held accountable.
If it was my son who killed someone on the road, they would have been arrested, Bulma says in tears. But she says the police who killed my son have never been arrested, and that's what I'm most suffering from. Ask yourself why, she adds. They are all human and the law should serve everyone equally.
Mathare, one of Africa's largest slums, with some of Nairobi's most densely populated and poor areas, continues to be a constant hotspot for election violence.
MarryAnn Kasina is a co-founder of the Center for Social Justice, an organization advocating social justice in Nairobi.
"Every time we hold an election, they know what our problem is, but they haven't happened," Kasina said. … Because you are already living in poverty, it just brings horizontal violence. It is violence that already lives there.
Mama Victor founded a group called Mothers of Victims and Survivors Network to help her family seek justice.
The group is calling on election officials and participants in the August presidential election to refrain from violence.
She says we want a peaceful election. And that's not all. As the victim's mother, we seek justice and compensation from our children, she adds.
Kenyan police have been accused of exerting excessive force on past election-related protests.
In just over a month before the general election, national police say they are ready to provide a safe environment for polls to take place peacefully.
In a statement to VOA, police spokesperson Bruno Shioso stated that measures were taken to improve security, including security training for new elections and additional equipment for officers. rice field.
Past elections in Kenya have been hurt by deadly violence. In the most notorious case, riots and attacks killed more than 1,100 people after being contested in a 2007 vote.
But as the clock ticks toward this year's vote, observers are cautiously optimistic that polls will be peaceful.
