Warders face off with police in alcohol den

By Wainaina Ndung’u

A rare spectacle unfolded in a backstreet Nyeri town pub that dispenses lower end alcoholic beverages when intoxicated prison warders faced off with police officers.

The squad of prison warders numbering about 15 got into a spat with their disciplined colleagues who invaded a popular Keg joint at Ruringu estate in Nyeri town that they usually frequent for well earned end month reveling.

A mwananchi who is a regular patron of the seedy joint said the prison warders had requested the bar owner to lock them inside the pub from the wee hours of the morning. They continued to drown rounds of their favourite brew till mid afternoon.

By midday, the obviously inebriated warders had thrown all caution into the wind. They were banging tables, shouting obscenities and singing wildly. Never mind that they had agreement with the proprietor of the pub to make merry quietly so as not to attract the other arm of the law since his license only allows drinking after 5.00pm and not later than 11.00pm.

Nuisance

The merry making would have continued well late into the night had a group of residents who neighbour the pub not decided to “take the law into their own hands” when the prison warders became a nuisance in the estate with their wild shouts and obscene songs.

These residents made a report at the Nyeri Police Station and a squad of five officers promptly arrived outside the errant joint to restore order — read arrest a few culprits.

Although other revellers and the owner ran for dear life when the police vehicle arrived, the drunken prison warders stayed put and asked the police officers to keep off and mind their own business.

But the officers would have none of it. They threatened to arrest the prison warders and charge them for drinking outside the stipulated “Mututho Law” hours and of being drunk and disorderly.

“Mnataka tumshike na turushe nyinyi cell saa hii? (you want us to arrest and detain you now)?” One of the police officers threatened the warders.

“Sisi tunaweza pia kuwakamata na tumufungie huko jela maisha (we can equally arrest you and lock you up for life),” one of the prison warders scoffed in a boorish retort that attracted a crowd of curious watchers.

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