Kenya’s ‘most generous’ gangster dies in gunfight

By BEATRICE WAMUYU

He was said to be Kenya’s Robin Hood. The rich dreaded him, some people admired him, and the police wanted him dead.

Long before the likes of Wacucu, Wanugu and Rasta came on the scene, there was Nicholas Mwea Wakinyonga. His escapades in the 1970s, the golden years for the country’s bank robbers, provided fodder for wild tales.

He was known for three things: a loud mouth, an appetite for what was not his, and the ability to slither out of police dragnets. He had become something of a legend, with people spinning yarns about his escapades. At the end of it all, it was hard to winnow the truth from the lies. But one thing was clear – he was a dangerous outlaw.

Robin Hood is a legendary figure, an outlaw said to have robbed the rich and shared the loot with the poor. A highly skilled archer according to English folklore, he was apparently angered by the inequalities in his society and decided to break the law to seal that wedge. The same was said of Wakinyonga, whose name literally means “the one who strangles”.

Accused by police of masterminding a string of bank robberies, at least one murder and other violent crimes, Wakinyonga was one of the most wanted robbers of his day. Only one other robber matched this tag, a man from Mukurwe-ini named Danson Gachuhi.

Gachuhi and Wakinyonga had been targets of Kenya’s famed crime buster, Patrick Shaw, who ruled with his Volvo and Browning pistol as investigator, judge and executioner. Gachuhi died in 1977, when he was reportedly hit with a stone while being chased down the streets.

Among the crimes police pinned on Wakinyonga were the theft of Sh330,000 from a bank  in Thika and another Sh200,000 stolen in Nairobi. Those were quite large amounts in those days. He also murdered an executive of Total oil company while trying to steal his car. The man was shot when he attempted to resist the theft.

Wakinyonga may have been Robin Hood reincarnate, but he kept some of the loot for himself. He invested the stolen money well, including building rental houses in Kangemi, where he lived. It was ironic that although a thief, Wakinyonga wanted his houses safe and so installed security lights all round the property.

He lived by the gun and seemed to know he would die by the gun. He had even dug a 30-foot deep grave at his home.  That was 24 feet more than the recommended depth of the graves of peace loving citizens.

On the night of Monday, June 26, 1978, Wakinyonga went to his favourite watering hole. Nyakiambi Lodge and Night Club in Kangemi was one of those places where Nairobi’s low-class went for booze and women. He liked the pub because he could easily mingle with the patrons and fade in the cigarette smoke and din.

Legend has it that after a long day stealing, he would spend the night entertaining friends and strangers with free drinks. He would place a loaded gun on the counter as he drank.

After one drink too many, his loud mouth got the better of him and he went into overdrive. He was probably drunk.

“Let those CID men come and I will shoot them all,” he boasted, according to a report in The Standard on June 28. He was overheard by a police informer, who called the law enforcement officers to tell them that their long sought quarry was at the lodge.

Police swung into action and surrounded the lodge. Some in plainclothes entered and circled him. Somehow, before they could ask him to surrender, he recognised them.

He suddenly turned in his bar stool and lurched at the officers. “You bastards!” he yelled as he whipped out his pistol, finger on the trigger. A burst of fire injured three people, according to police. Others ducked for cover.

But Wakinyonga was a wee bit too slow; his proverbial 40 days were over. Police pumped bullets into his body and he breathed his last. The Press happily carried pictures of his bullet-riddled body. There were claims that the killer shot came from Shaw’s pistol.

Police found the grave he had dug in his home a few yards away.