Didacus Malowa, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

Boniface Mwangi Kariuki, the Nairobi hawker who was shot in the head during protests, has undergone a second high-risk surgery.

The surgical procedure was critical to remove bullet fragments that remained dangerously lodged in his skull.

Doctors at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) wheeled him into theatre again on Thursday, June 19, after his condition worsened.

Kariuki is now in critical condition at the KNH Intensive Care Unit (ICU), fully dependent on life support.

His family, devastated and anxious, said they are hanging onto hope but also demanding accountability from the authorities.

"In the morning, he was doing fairly well, but around 10 a.m., they noticed his condition was starting to deteriorate, so they decided to do a second operation. They’ve said his condition is not very good. He’s in critical condition. What they had expected was brain swelling, but they found there were other complications," Eunice Kiragu, a relative, said.

Surgeons spent four tense hours trying to remove the remaining bullet fragments and when the operation ended, Boniface was returned to the ICU, where machines now keep him alive.

Outside the ward, his family remains in anguish, grappling with the trauma of his condition and the uncertainty of what comes next.

Source: TUKO.co.ke