Kanjo Kingdom: Stabs wounds, blood clots and death

Nairobi City County Inspectorate officers extort almost Sh100 million from hawkers and informal vendors monthly, but not without use of systemic violence; leaving scars in their wake, and families in mourning.

Benson Ambani Akasi better known as ‘Wasiwasi’ is the man at the helm of the extortion ring that cumulatively amounts to almost Sh1 billion annually.

The violence sometimes escalates to murder of hawkers. Currently, ‘Wasiwasi’ and his henchmen are facing a murder trial at the High Court after Irungu Kamau was allegedly killed by city inspectorate officers in September 2013.

Other hawkers who have allegedly been killed by city inspectorate officers include; James Maina Kamundia who was shot dead along Kilome road, John Kimani Mucoki, killed in Ngara, and Harun Njoroge Ngugi who died from stab wounds.

Because of the killings, hawkers have now hired gangs to fight against ‘Kanjo’ askaris — gangs that comprise hawkers and paid criminals, giving the hawkers time to flee with their goods.

In the meantime, victims of violence against hawkers have their many tales of woe. Like ‘Soni’ who weaves her slight frame through her spot on Tom Mboya Street in downtown Nairobi.

‘Soni’ is the short form of her second name. Her spot is the entrance to a building where she doesn’t have to constantly be on her feet, only getting up when buyers come by. She knows by heart the story of violence against hawkers and has a blood clot in her liver to show for it. ‘Soni’ was hit in the stomach by a ‘Kanjo’ officer whom she still sees daily, but whom she wouldn’t dare raise her voice against.

Another victim is Carol Menjo who hawks clothes at the foot of the staircase onto a footpath in Ngara, Nairobi, three kilometres away from ‘Soni’. Hundreds of other hawkers line the highway down from where Carol sits in Ngara to the Central Business District where ‘Soni’ is.

Although the two probably have never met, they have more in common than they would think: Carol was assaulted by two ‘Kanjo’ officers and ended up at the Kenyatta National Hospital’s Casualty ward.

She had swellings at the back of her head, and only managed to speak to us after two days. “However risky the work is, I must get back. Otherwise, I will have no money for medication. Besides, I have a family to feed,” she said.

Down the road from Carol is Boniface. He doesn’t give us his second name, afraid of the repercussions of speaking out against men who have maimed him before. He has the last encounter with the city inspectorate officers written on his face and body.

The scars from knife wounds peak out from the hem of his shorts, and pockmarks of healing pink flesh dot his knees. Had it not been for his smooth tongue and an intervention from an uncle who works within the inspectorate, he probably would not have survived the assault, he says.

None of the three hawkers have reported their assault to the police, in spite of the fact that they can identify the people who beat them.

“Going to report is a waste of time since the inspectorate officers work closely with the police. Normally, the police will joke about how lucky you are not to have been killed,” ‘Soni’ explains.

Peter Kiama, the Executive Director at Independent Medico Legal Unit’s (IMLU), which Launched a 2014 report on hawker abuse, says the number of assaults on hawkers has risen unchecked over the past four years. This can partly be attributed to a falling out between ‘Kanjo’ askaris and a group of hawkers who collect bribes for the officers.

“We would split the money collected between ourselves and inspectorate officers,” alleges Samuel Mbugua, a hawker. “Later on, however, a disagreement over how to share the loot arose consigning us to the wrong end of the inspectorate’s wrath”.

Last week we unmasked five officers from Nairobi’s City Inspectorate who have for at least one year been extorting bribes from hawkers and informal traders: Angeline Kamami alias Kamatha, Bernard Muli ‘Gathauthau’, Julius Ochieng, Alfred Marenya, and their boss, Benson Akasi Ambani.

Mbugua’s claims would have been easy to dismiss were it not for a video clip recorded in October 2015. It captures Julius Ochieng, one of the five inspectorate officers who are part of the extortion racket, negotiating with another hawker who would take a cut off of collections in one part of town, and Ochieng and his inspectorate gang collecting from hawkers in another area. “You eat on this side and we’ll eat from the other side,” Julius is seen on camera telling the hawker and his colleagues.

These arrangements often don’t last, and hawkers like Mbugua have paid the price for believing that they would. Mbugua’s last encounter with ‘Kanjo’ put him in hospital with a swollen face and a bleeding brow.

“When collections dipped, they started saying that we were stealing their money, and they held a grudge against us,” Mbugua remembers. Nairobi City Inspectorate Director Hilary Wambugu disowns the claims that his officers have stabbed hawkers. “We don’t provide knives for operation purpose. Those using such weapons are acting on their own,” he said. “When arresting anybody, officers are supposed to apply minimum force.”