Security agents' dilemma in war against dreaded Nakuru gangs

Joseph Gachuiya, the chairperson for Kiratina Bodaboda Sacco, Nakuru East, is the most recent victim of a gang's attack on Monday night.

His assailants didn't steal anything from him.

Riders who responded to his distress call rushed him to a local clinic, where they were directed to Nakuru Level 5 hospital.

At the hospital, Gachuiya had to endure the pain with the dagger still stuck in his back for almost ten hours as doctors brainstormed on how to remove it.

"We received the patient at 1am. With the knife stuck in his back and into the chest cavity, he could not fit in the CT scanner. Our specialists had to do other alternative investigations for safe removal," said Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Michael Sitima.

The operation to remove the knife took the surgeons one and a half hours as they carefully operated on the region that has vital and highly sensitive organs.

Back in Kiratina, angry bodaboda riders embarked on a search for the suspects whom the victim had positively identified.

The riders rounded up two suspects who were forced to name their counterparts. The two were given a dog's beating and set on fire before the police rescued and rushed them to the same hospital.

During our visit, one of the victims accused of being part of the gang revealed that the suspect who stabbed Mr Gachuiya was known but was being protected by some of the bodaboda operators.

"As they were beating us up, my friend was trying to give the name of the suspect who stabbed the chairman. However, a brother to the prime suspect, who is also a boda boda rider, repeatedly hit him to silence him," said the victim of mob injustice.

The revelation points to the infiltration of the gangs among genuine boda boda riders who are among the major victims of such attacks, as some of them cover up for the criminals due to their close links.

A combination of other factors has further made it difficult for security agencies to act on the gang with finality as they keep mushrooming shortly after being suppressed.

Peter Kinyanjui, the chairperson for community policing groups in Rhonda, Nakuru West, cites lack of education, unemployment, and rogue cops as some of the main challenges in eradicating criminals in the area.

"There is a high level of school dropout in the peri-urban settlements. It is the same teenagers who are forming these gangs and terrorising the same society they were born into," said Kinyanjui.

Nakuru East MP David Gikaria regrets that innocent people have fallen victim to the gangs as they fight among themselves.

"We have reports of these teenagers fighting over lovers. One is wounded or killed, and the gangs organise for retaliatory attacks without even having a second thought. It is a shame that they have a poor upbringing that makes them fight over women," said Gikaria.

Nakuru County Police Commander Samuel Ndanyi says such attacks between rival gangs have been common in the informal settlements.

The county police boss further says that they were ready to work with the elders in smoking out rogue officers cooperating with criminals.