Kenyan celebrities' crime confessions

 

   Artist Rio-D holding an AK 47 rifle.             Photo:Facebook/Rio-D

The news that Kennedy Okwako, a Kenyan musician and MC, had been sentenced to eight years of imprisonment , last week ,got everyone by surprise.

The Würzburg based artiste was imprisoned for having sexual intercourse with various women without using a condom despite knowing he was infected with HIV.

Back in 1998, the singer was infected by his German lover without his knowledge, although he insists that his rampant raw sex was not a revenge mission after he slept with eight women. Three of those who appeared in court included a housewife, a hairdresser and a 13-year-old.

Initially, he had told the court that he had slept with the young lady, but he didn’t know she was a minor.

“I didn’t want to hurt anybody. I promise never to have unprotected sex ever again,” Kennedy told the court before the ruling.

Closer home, recently, one of celebrated rappers in the country, Roba, who used to sing with pioneer hip-hop group Kalamashaka was put behind bars for allegedly stealing a car side mirror.

And, far from the comic relief they offer, one of the hilarious pranksters of the TV show Naswa recently had a taste of his own medicine.

Stephen Okoth Ochieng was in court a few days ago after he was accused of stealing a camera valued at Sh390,000.  The Naswa star was arrested after the camera disappeared from his boss’s office.

According to the charge sheet that we acquired, it is alleged that between March 15 and 17 at Wide Concept Africa offices along State House road in Nairobi, Ochieng, being an employee of the company stole a camera Canon 5D Mark Two and 24 to 105 lens all valued at Sh390,000.

And joining the list of celebrities who have had a brush with the law is yet another artiste who was arrested for stealing chicken from a restaurant, not so long ago.

Well, not all is always rosy with celebs that are known to revel in the glitz and glamour of showbiz. The above cases may sound chilling but only goes ahead to prove that our adored stars are equally vulnerable to the ills that rock everyone else in the society.

In fact, even though their lives are now transformed, dozens of local celebrities have confessed their dark past in criminal activities, some of which almost coasted them their dear lives.

 

MIKE SONKO

Flamboyant and controversial Nairobi County Senator Gideon Mike Sonko Mbuvi has spent time in jail. A shrewd businessman who started dealing at quite a young age, he was jailed for two months at Shimo La Tewa prison in 1998 for absconding a court date over another matter relating to him selling prime land in the Coast. 

“I stayed behind bars for only two months then I was released by Justice Oguk following an appeal against my sentence,” Sonko told The Standard in September 2010. Recently, he was on KTN explaining what happened, alluding to the fact that he indeed served time and moved on. He said he now regrets ever indulging in crime and has lately been counselling young people not to indulge in crime.  

 

DADDY OWEN

Papa Fololo, the MTV award-winning artiste and top-selling gospel star had wayward ways before music became a source of income and career. Celebrating ten years in the industry this year, Daddy Owen wears sunglasses for a reason; to hide a squint in one of his eyes that was nearly lost in a mob attack in Nairobi in 2001.

“It all happened in a split second. All I remember was lying down surrounded by a huge crowd who beat me up mercilessly. One poked my eye using a sharp instrument. Meanwhile, I could hear the rest urging someone to bring a car tyre to burn me alive,” he told Pulse.

By then, he was a petty thief within the Central Business District and Umoja estate, where he lived with his family.

After being admitted to PCEA Kikuyu Hospital Eye Unit for a whole week, he started to reform. With most of the member of the gang he used to operate with killed, the artiste believes the beating was the turning point as he was set to become a hard-core thug.

 

NELSON OMINDE (TIGER)

After claiming that he has never stepped into any police station all his life, Nelson Ominde was confirmed by a police at the station as having spent a night on March 28 at the Jogoo Road Police station for obtaining money falsely.

Tiger, who is the owner of Mind Vision Video Company, was accused of conning upcoming artiste Sadfa Amke by purporting to shoot a video for him. The accusations have lasted since mid last year when the two brokered the deal. 

 

JOHNNY VIGETI

When Vigeti rhymed; “...Niko na home nyingi kushinda ma-boys wa Mike Rabar in the hip hop classic Piga Bao...” he did not have the jail in mind. One of the pioneers of Kenyan hip hop with Roba and Kama, the latter who is abroad, has seen the jail in more times than one, with drug addiction said to be the problem.

“Every little penny he gets is spent on acquiring drugs,” said a member of Ukoo Flani of the artiste who was recently bailed out of Industrial Prison.

 

KING KAFU

Now a radio presenter at Ghetto radio, he once served one-year jail time in 2006, at Industrial Area prison on allegations of trying to steal from a phone shop on Luthuli Avenue in town. On this fateful day, it so happened that he and his two friends were doing rounds as usual to spot which shop had been left unattended.

It is claimed that they entered into one shop and bought Sh.50 airtime giving the attendant Sh1,000 hence prompting her to go outside to look for change. It was while she was gone that they started stealing but were caught in the act when the attendant returned too soon, and immediately raised alarm. While his two friends managed to escape he was left at the mercy of other attendants who beat him up before handing him over to the police.

 

RIO-D

Rio-D, one of the rappers who had signed up with CMB Prezzo owned Makini Music Group (MMG) was arrested last year after posing with photos of himself holding an AK 47 rifle on his Facebook page. ?In a well-coordinated move by police officers, the rapper fell into the trap of the security wizards who posed as friends inviting him for a party at Kenya Cinema, Nairobi, where they handcuffed him.?The controversial rapper was interrogated at Central Police Station for hours before being released.?

“Yes, it is true I was put behind bars. I had an AK 47 but It wasn’t mine. It was a police firearm in my hands, “ Rio-D told Pulse. .? “All this has nothing to do with crime. I am not a criminal,” he said.

Sources within police unit indicated that the rapper was cleared after disclosing how he got hold of the gun. And just recently, the rapper was arrested and put behind bars under unclear circumstances.

 

SHAVEY

Shavey, from the successful duo Shavey and Slice who performed Gyal, has admittedly run into a lot of trouble and was recently to a chief in Kayole after he broke someone’s property. In an interview with a media house after the incident, the visibly inebriated artiste sounded deluded as he talked about tours in Netherlands, an invite to feature in a leading TV show and how he lost Sh8 million to a producer, before veering back into reality admitting that he has been arrested severally for touting.

“Mimi hufanya makosa mingi juu unajua you have to hustle… Nimevunja kioo, nalipishwa Sh1,800 lakini I’ll pay because music pays,” he said, while standing outside the chief’s camp and obviously oblivious of the irony in that statement.