Rise of gangland attacks worry police ahead of 2017 elections

Drugs, militia activity and politics are the volatile mix that is fuelling new criminal activity in Mombasa and transforming the fragile calm in the coastal city. And as bewildered authorities struggle for containment, new reports keep emerging of fresh attacks, quite different from the terror raids that characterised previous engagements.

Claims by Coast Regional Coordinator Nelson Marwa associating these gangs with paramilitary training would have been easy to dismiss had corroborative testimonies from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) not emerged about training activities in unarmed combat in Manyani, Mshomoroni and Nyali Bridge.

“The youths receive training from a number of ex-paramilitary officers who police are pursuing. They are also under the influence of drugs,” said the NIS source.

A common thread in police investigations into some of these crimes is the presence of drugs, and in particular, the hallucinogen Rohypnol which is locally referred to as bugizi. This drug appears to be favoured by some of the youths who belong to gangs like Wakali Kwanza.

A few metres from the Dog Section Unit at Kisauni Police Station lies the Wakali Kwanza base. Packets of used Rohypnol litter the place, pointing to heavy drug use. The prescription drug is commonly found chemists, and is favoured by patients with chronic insomnia.

However, investigators are probing the use of these drugs by youths with the thriving narcotic trade at the coast. “All members of community policing including myself have been warned to go slow on drug peddlers and the gangs or face the consequences,” says Abdalla Abdurahman, chairman of community policing in Bombolulu-Kisimani.

It is clear to Abdulhussein and other observers that drugged youths, many of them teens, are hired to commit crimes.

Early last month 15 Wakali Kwanza gang members attacked and robbed passengers in two matatus in Kisauni. “These youth are aged between 15 and 20. The day before they attacked the matatus, we had arrested about 50 of them, but we are baffled how these lads, the majority of them school dropouts, can be allowed to roam the streets without parental oversight,” said Coast regional police boss Wanjohi Mwangi. Two gangs, Wakali Wao and Wakali Kwanza, have been blamed for a spate of burglaries, muggings and killings in Kisauni.

In December last year Mohamed Bakari, the Wakali Kwanza gang leader on the run, was stabbed to death by a mob and his hand severed at Mwandoni. Police said this was a retaliatory attack for a gangland killing in Lamu. Security officers recovered weapons from his house and arrested six members of his gang.

“In the same year, a gang of 80 youths disrupted a funeral meeting,” said John Otieno of the Mwandoni area of Mombasa.

After one arrest of 20 youths, members of community policing unit and residents, who had tipped off security agents, pulled out of the investigation. “Most victims later refused to testify in court. Those that did watched in frustration as families of the suspects had them released on bail,” says Abdurahman.

Most of the criminals can be identified by their neighbours but these communities are afraid to report them to the police.

“They either choose to protect them because of family ties or because they fear retaliatory attacks,” says Abdurahman.

Investigations reveal that Wakali Kwanza was formed five years ago and mainly operated in Barsheba, Hongera, Mla Leo and Mshomoroni. Wakali Kwanza and Wakali Wao have since disintegrated into splinters groups. One of the splinter groups, Wakali Kweli, operates around Bamburi, while Wakali Che reigns terror in Vietnam, Bombolulu in concert with Wakali Pesa.

Marwa believes there is a political hand in the emergence of the gangs. We cannot have young men aged 15 to 20 being used to cause chaos,” he says. The Mombasa police boss holds the same view. “Why are these groups being formed now when the election is approaching?” poses Mwangi.

As authorities look for answer, residents of Mombasa continue to live in fear.