Police officer who lost both arms in teargas explosion narrates his agony

A police officer who lost both arms during anti-Finance Bill protests on Tuesday is recuperating at the Nairobi West Hospital.

Inspector David Maina, speaking to Citizen TV in seemingly high spirits from his hospital bed on Thursday, recounted the horrific incident in Nairobi's CBD.

Maina alongside his colleagues from the police service were on duty to ensure order during the ‘Occupy Parliament’ protests when, unexpectedly, he detonated a tear gas canister and delayed releasing it, leading to it exploding in his hands.

The father of three children who had been providing for his family through police service will now be forced to change his life completely after he lost both forearms following the incident.

He regretted the incident saying it had forever turned his life around and it would be hard for the family, especially his children to come to terms with his new life.

“It was a sad day that this happened, as we were trying to ensure calmness in Nairobi. It has changed my life a lot because there are many things that I won't be able to do and I also don’t know what I will tell my kids about this, they will be very shocked,” he recounted.

Medics at the hospital say the injuries he sustained will be life-changing and that he may need prosthetic arms to enable him somewhat live a normal life.

The hospital's Chief Doctor Prakash Sain said Inspector Maina sustained serious injuries and that no treatment or corrective surgery can restore the damage.

"He had lost both his hands, the primary treatment has been done but with the kind of injury he has, there is no surgery or treatment which can heal him now,” said Dr. Sain.

In addition to Inspector Maina's serious injuries, another female officer, Constable Mildred Emoit Elisha, lies next ward in the same hospital after she suffered wounds to the chest.

Tourism Cabinet Secretary Dr. Alfred Mutua alongside Nairobi Police Commander Adamson Bungei visited the officers on Thursday to show solidarity. 

CS Mutua condemned the protests over the Bill claiming that the protesters have been coerced by civil society groups that seek donor funding.

He says the said groups are now using Generation Z to propagate their agenda.

"Out of the protests that have happened, two police officers are in hospital and not a single demonstrator was injured. Our police have shown their restraint, they have looked and seen these are children who are being used and have not done anything,” said CS Mutua.

“These protesters would like to have violence because that is where they eat. They would like to cause some violence ndio waende huko ng’ambo waandike proposal watumiwe pesa wamesota…they are broke. I see these activists in clubs and they are broke, hawana pesa.”