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The faces of security on Kenya's highway to hell
Written by: Patrick Mathangani
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A graffiti-covered car, burned at a roadblock in Nairobi's Kibera slum. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti
After a month of bloodshed, it was a big relief to drive through Nairobi without running into rampaging protesters. Unusually, traffic flowed smoothly on the road, meaning that people were still avoiding going to town and choosing to stay at home. Still, I and the driver of the hired pick-up truck I was riding in did not want to take chances. I was relocating from Nairobi to Nyeri, a town on the fringes of Mt. Kenya, and we had 150 km (90 miles) to do before the sun set. We took a turn away from a slum neighbourhood that has been an epicenter of the violent protests that broke out after disputed elections at the end of December. It seems like an age ago that President Kibaki was declared the winner on Dec. 27, beating opposition leader Raila Odinga. Odinga and his supporters claim the vote was stolen to deny him victory. The riots soon took on an ethnic dimension and turned into confrontations between youths from Raila's Luo tribe and Kibaki's Kikuyu. We drove past staccato settlements of cardboard huts, tin shacks and half-built storey houses already occupied by people desperate for a place to call home. As we approached Kayole, a concrete jungle of residential flats, mazes of TV antennae and power lines hanging over buildings, a youth emerged from behind a makeshift kiosk and flagged us down. I didn't expect the driver to slow down. But he did, screeching to a halt and ignoring my puzzled gaze. I watched the youth as he came up and stretched a hand into the cabin. Another cycled a mountain bike behind us and stopped. Two more crossed the road from the opposite lane. "Give me the money. You know what goes on here," the first youth said, showing nicotine-tainted teeth. He explained that since the political violence broke out, the "protection fee" they have been charging on the road has been doubled to 200 shillings ($2.80). Immediately, it hit me that we were in the hands of Mungiki, an underworld gang of Kikuyu youths who have left a blood-cuddling legacy. Once when covering one of the gang's murderous rampages outside Nairobi, I saw a human head pronged on a stick where gang members had hoisted it after a night of terror. Through their reign of fear, the gangs have been charging fees to businesses in downtown Nairobi and the slums. They have set up an underground government, charging electricity and water fees and setting up illegal roadblocks and toll stations on highways. At the peak of the violence, Odinga's party claimed government functionaries had transported hundreds of gang members to the Rift Valley to avenge the killing of their Kikuyu tribesmen. As the gangs took control of the main highway to Western Kenya, they dragged people they thought belonged to the opposite political camp and bludgeoned them to death. Fighting escalated, leaving nearly 1,000 people dead and uprooting 300,000 others, as well as hindering relief to the region. Police sent to clear the highways and quell the fighting were overwhelmed and the military had to be called in to restore peace. The breakdown of order seemed to have created just the right environment for tribal gangs to thrive. I absorbed this background, wondering whether we were safe. But all the while, the driver was haggling with the youth in an unnerving, casual manner, indicating he was not a stranger to the gang. The young man, barely 20 years old, looked furtively at his colleagues watching him and the highway stretching ahead and behind us. He looked scared, probably a new recruit. "Ask yourself why they did not kill our people here," he was saying, justifying the fee increase. "It's because we were told to be ready. We have organised ourselves." Shaken as I was, I offered to pay the full amount. Then we roared off, relieved. "Are you scared?" the driver asked. "It's true they helped. Things would have been worse. But it's unfair to increase the fees." Soon, residential buildings gave way to farms as we drove through the countryside. At roadblocks set up to boost security following a rise in highway robberies, police would ask the driver for his road license. Then, he would fold a 50 shilling note between the license's pages and hand it over. "If you don't pay, they won't let you pass," the driver told me, after being waved off by a policeman with an AK-47 rifle slung over his shoulder. "I always carry enough of these notes."
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8 responses to “The faces of security on Kenya's highway to hell”
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09 Feb 2008 13:16:45 GMT
I won't be be surprised when one day, the gangs turn against those politicians who use them. It sure will happen!
09 Feb 2008 13:23:20 GMT
You are right on some instance but you have decided to mislead the world on some issues.
The violence was not pitying the Luo against the Kikuyu. It was the Odinga supporters, who are majority, all the way from Coast Province, skipping Eastern and Central Province, through Nairobi, Rift Valley, Western to Nyanza. The strength of the protest grew as you moved to the West. Naturally the Luo tribe provide the bedrock of his support, just like the Kikuyu for Kibaki. Were the Luo responsible for the attacks in Rift Valley and Western Provinces? Kibaki rigged the election and never won. The whole electoral process was fraudulent. First through filling the ECK with his cronies, filling ballot boxes with marked ballot papers and when this did not work, outright manipulation of vote tallying process. Only truth, justice and integrity shall save our country. Kibaki has short supply of these.10 Feb 2008 10:57:37 GMT
It sounds like hell on earth. Just imagine what it like just driving though. What it must be like for those who lives in the condition daily. The situation is cause by the leaders, who do not care about the lives of their people. Kibaki only care about himself and is personally people. Let see what he will do now he is back in power. S am sure more chaos! The people of the country should in always come frist.
10 Feb 2008 10:58:37 GMT
I do not agree with Mathangani regarding "generalizing" the single incident you faced, it is a fact that most parts of the country âtribal youth gangsâ different tribes were actually soliciting for protection fee, an opportunity they saw to alternate employment (promised in 2002 of 500,000 Jobs per year.
Yes the absence of rule of law all over the countryside gave room to or created just the right environment for tribal gangs to thrive, but not ONLY the ânicotine-tainted teeth youths are gangsâ.. For the police to take the (50 bob) it has been there even before the violence broke out if you didnât know10 Feb 2008 11:06:07 GMT
I have traveled in Kenya many times as a missionary, since 1985. Nyeri is a very special place to me. I stayed several times at Treetops Hotel and found it enchanting. I am hoping all is well at Treetops, that there was no damage to the resort. If anyone can reassure me, I would be grateful. Marie
12 Feb 2008 10:25:53 GMT
Ok, let's face it people. This thing is really about the historical political differences between Luos and the Kikuyu. Who does not know that the other tribes are just pawns in the supremacy battle between the two? It really isn't something new, it isn't something we have seen for the last time. This is until some drastic measures to shift the balance of power are taken, or history just does its parts and rids us the forces that make these two to fight. Best luck!
13 Feb 2008 15:28:49 GMT
As I read through, I do not "see" the highway described in the story. There is only one incident where the youths stopped Mathangani and his driver. Surely, there is so much of generalisation in here! How do you make out that this was Mungiki? Sadly, Reuters have used a picture to "lie" to the world that all highways in Kenya are littered with burnt out vehicles. It is out of context! Shame! I highly doubt the chaos was a Kikuyu vs Luo affair. I see the hand of people bent on "cleansing" the Kikuyu off the Rift Valley in all this. The Luo had to an extent focussed their anger to perceived or imagined stealing of the election.
18 Feb 2008 14:19:37 GMT
I have read with a sigh of despair Mathangani's predicament in one of our highways. The bloodshot-eyed-gangs bespeak of the encroaching anarchy and lawlessness in our beloved country Kenya.I however thank the Police Dept. for the great work of restoring calm, but it is paradoxical that a minority is still bedevilled in vices of corruption. The fact is " The Govt. is changing this crude face"|. Sadly though, I have travelled in similar vehicles to an estate in Nairobi whose majority of its populace is from a different ethnic group. Even if there was no physical hassassment, an air of percieved 'ouitsiders' still rule. We can change this desperate face1!