At least four people were injured, including two police officers and a Form 3 student, as police clashed with squatters at a disputed land at the KD area in Kadzandani, Nyali sub-county, on Wednesday morning.
Two of the people, including Daniel Musyoka, a 19-year-old Form 3 student at Kwa Bulo secondary school, suffered bullet wounds in the back and hands, while the police officers, including Nyali police boss Daniel Mumasaba, suffered cuts on the hands.
Musyoka had a bullet removed from his left arm at Bulo Medicare by Charles Makuchi, a doctor in charge of the hospital. Musyoka said he was transporting sand using a cart to a construction site and was passing the area when he saw people running.
"I then had shots fired. Before I knew it I felt something hit my left arm in the biceps, and I fell down," Musyoka said.
"He had been shot in the left deltoid muscle and the bullet was lodged in. We had to do an incision, and we removed a live bullet," Machuki said.
He said although Musyoka is in stable condition, he needs to have an X-ray done to determine the extent of the damage the bullet has done.
"Because on examination, we could see the bullet may have penetrated through bones," the doctor said.
Kadzandani MCA Fatma Kushe paid the hospital bill before taking Musyoka to record a statement at Kadzandani Mwatamba police station.
This irked the squatters who retaliated. They overpowered the police, who dropped five of their shields, as they retreated before calling for reinforcement. The reinforced group repulsed the squatters.
It took the intervention of MCA Fatma Kushe to calm down the squatters who were baying for police blood. Things cooled down after she talked to the squatters.
She took the five dropped police shields, three of which were broken, to Kadzandani Mwatamba police station, where she met Nyali police boss Mumasaba. As the two were planning a peace meeting in the area, a call came in that the squatters were attacking the house of a claimant to the land.
Mwatamba OCS Daniel Njoroge and Kushe then rushed to the scene, where rowdy squatters were protesting the burning of some of their houses. The two then calmed down the crowd, and an impromptu peace baraza was set up.
Coast Development Authority chairman Mzee Mwinyi, whose family is in dispute over the land, said the squatters attacked his mother in the main house. He was to join the peace baraza, but the squatters, angry with him, heckled him, and he had to leave the scene.
Mumasaba said land issues in Nyali are a thorn in the flesh and amicable solutions have to be found.
"There is no need to fight. People can always sit down and talk. Dialogue is always the best problem solver," Mumasaba said.
He noted that Kenya is a democratic country under the rule of law. Kushe said land problems in her ward may lead to deaths if mishandled.
"Now we have an innocent boy who was trying to hustle maybe for his school fees, suffering bullet wounds. It is unfortunate," she said.
She called on the squatters and the police to all respect court orders and the rule of law.
"Both parties need to respect the law. There can never be any development anywhere without peace. And peace depends on how matters are solved," she said.