/ 21 February 2000

KENYAN MPs SHOT

TWO Kenyan Members of Parliament were shot and seriously wounded in the capital Nairobi after a traffic accident, police said on Monday. Sammy Leshore, the ruling party’s chief whip, and his deputy Mohammed Shidiye were attacked on Sunday night after their vehicle was in a collision with a matatu, or passenger minibus. Police said that while the two MPs were waiting in their vehicle an unidentified person approached the car and asked them whether they were businessmen. He then shot them. Armed crime has escalated in Kenya in recent years as poverty has sharply increased.