Shocking story of how Kenya's top campuses have become gangsters' haven

Memories of last week will never be wiped from *Job’s mind. He says he is lucky to have evaded death at the hands of goons.

On that fateful Sunday morning, the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology student says he was headed to the university library to access the Internet for his assignment when he met his attackers at the university’s Gate C.

Without warning, six men, who Job describes as well-built youth, pounced on him and knocked him down. They demanded that he surrenders everything he had, including his mobile phone and a laptop. To buy time, Job says he gave them his mobile phone but would not let go of his laptop bag, making them lose their cool.

“I saw one of them raise a broken bottle with which he hit me hard on the head while another stabbed me in the stomach. Then I saw them take my laptop bag and flee. I was afraid and too weak to go after them,” says Job.

Bleeding profusely, the second-year student, who refuses to reveal his real name for fear that he may still be a target says he dragged himself to the hostel room he shared with a colleague where he passed out.

Job says he regained consciousness on a hospital bed at Aga Khan. Although he is nursing a wound and without his electronics, Job counts himself lucky to be alive.

“That night, anything could have happened. Some students have lost their lives in Juja at the hands of these criminals. I am lucky they didn’t finish me,” says Job.

Juja gangs

A chain of vicious attacks and killings have been reported at the Juja-based University in the recent past. Job’s ordeal with criminals came barely a week after Sydney Aomba, also a student at the university was stabbed to death moments after he alighted from a matatu coming from Nairobi’s Central Business District.

A police report showed that Aomba, who played for the University’s American Football team, the JKuat Sparrows, was heading to his house after spending time with friends in the CBD when he met his killers in a suspected mugging incident.

Aomba is said to have attempted to run after he was stabbed in the chest but fell down and passed out in front of a shop whose owner called for help from a boda-boda rider. He was rushed to the university’s hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Another student from the University of Nairobi who had gone partying in Juja would also not live to narrate his encounter with what appears to be a well-established criminal gang of students in Juja.

At UoN, colleagues narrated in hushed tones how Francis Osundwa had gone to a party with a relative in Juja when he met his assailants who robbed him, stabbed him, and left him for dead.

Osundwa’s friends say the deceased stayed in a coma for a few days before he succumbed to his wounds in hospital.

And much as the area around JKuat would seem notorious for the chain of attacks, the university is not an isolated case in the recent spate of evidently well-orchestrated criminal incidences that have engulfed universities in Kenya.

All the recently reported attacks came before and shortly after Commission for University Education (CUE) released a report detailing increased crime in universities in Kenya.

Hostels turned into thieving dens

According to the report that was tabled before Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed last month, universities have become hotspots for crime and terror. One of the focus points of the CUE National Quality Audit Inspection that was conducted in all the 70 public and private universities and university colleges, last year was to gauge security status in colleges.

 “Some of the identified safety and security issues facing universities and university colleges include increased cases of organised crimes where students are either involved or institutions acting as centres of crime,” reads the report in part.

In a chilling revelation, the report goes on to say how many university hostels have been turned into hideouts and convergence points for criminals who mostly operate within hostel premises.

These gangs are suspected to be made up of mostly university students, according to students we spoke to.

“I have never seen them before but would recognise them if I met them anywhere. One thing I know, however, is that they looked like university students,” Job says of the gang of six who attacked him.

Boniface Kimani, a second-year IT student at JKuat is the other mugging victim who says he was lucky to escape alive after he was attacked on his way from his friend’s hostel room.

“I was coming from a friends’ room where we had been working on an assignment. As the watchman was opening the gate to my hostel, two thugs attacked me,” says Kimani.

That same night, Kimani’s friend had been attacked by the same thugs who had been trailing the pair. After stabbing his friend, they then moved on to Kimani who handed over everything he had. He escaped without physical harm.

“One of them held a knife against my throat threatening to slice my throat if I didn’t give him my mobile phone. I promptly handed him my phone, hard disk and my wallet which had about Sh2,000,” says Kimani.

Another incident that has left students with many unanswered questions is the recent death of a UoN student in Mombasa. He had been reported missing.

Dennis Munene, a first-year law student, went missing on May 9, in Kasarani, Nairobi, and was found dead at the Coast General Hospital mortuary last Thursday.

Gang-raped near a police station

Students that Hashtag spoke to blame authorities for remaining mum despite the increase in crime in universities where students are the target.

Students from various institutions in Embu County went on the rampage for what they termed as silence by authorities in the wake of a gang rape.

A local TV station gang of ten men had attacked a hostel and raped five students of Embu College and stole their phones, money and laptops.

Their screams reportedly did not help despite the hostel being located less than 100 metres from Embu Police Station.

Job says that the priorities of authorities, hired to ensure the safety of the students are misplaced.

“Instead of police addressing the increasing attacks they only focus on drug users. They don’t attempt to uproot the drug peddlers because we know they get their own cut from the sale of drugs,” says the IT student.

And in its report to the Ministry of Education, CUE has decried poor collaboration between universities/constituent colleges and the National Security Council.

Additionally, little attention is given to security concerns in universities and constituent colleges. 

Biometric registration hurdle

The commission was also tasked with giving a status report on the implementation of the biometric identification systems, automation of students’ records, and security audits of all universities.

The Government had in April 2016 directed all universities and constituent colleges to implement biometric identification systems and automate students’ records in a move aimed at curbing cases of crime after the deadly terror attack on Garissa University. 

But last month, CUE revealed that some universities had not complied with the security requirements, citing financial constraints.

In a recommendation to the Ministry of Education, the commission called on the ministry to negotiate with the government for a higher budgetary allocation to the universities to implement directives on security and safety.

But a vice chancellor who Hashtag spoke to said that physical systems alone are not adequate in fighting crime in university, which the VC termed as a societal concern.

“Implementation of the biometric identification systems is a good move. We, however, need to address insecurities in universities more as a societal issue and not by gauging on the level of sophistication. The United States is way beyond us in sophistication but we are better than them when it comes to crime in institutions of learning,” said Prof Njenga Munene, the new Zetech University VC.

According to Prof Munene, the changing higher education landscape makes security in universities too complex to be left only to universities.

“When I went to university in 1984, there were just about 2,000 of us in the whole university and we were all boarders. Student numbers have ballooned and it would be impractical for parents to expect that the administration will give each student personal attention,” says Prof Munene.

He says that some university students come from dysfunctional families and they become a problem when they mingle with others.

“Here, we recognise this gap and pay as much attention as possible to students through regular interactive discussions with deans,” says Prof Munene.