Nairobi’s stretch of death where police look helpless

By Jeckonia Otieno

It is a stretch of about half a kilometre, but those who walk it carry their lives in their hands.

One can never be sure of what is likely to happen as you walk this stretch. Many have lost their lives while others have escaped with injuries thanks to criminals operating here.

The path connecting Lucky Summer, Ngomongo and Dandora in Nairobi has in the past one week seen one person dead and others injured. Many others have lost their personal belongings to a marauding gang that operates along the bushy area day and night.

Last Sunday, Maurice Owino lost his life early evening after attending a family meeting in Ngomongo. Owino who was allegedly stabbed once in the chest was waylaid together with two other family members some few metres from a narrow bridge.

Also seriously injured that evening was Paul Warinda who has three deep knife wounds, which he sustained in an attack by the gang as he escorted his cousin to Dandora.

As he hobbles lamely, his face in grimace, Warinda thanks God that he is alive to recount the events of that fateful evening. He almost became the second dead person that day in the hands of the ruthless gang.

Warinda had just concluded a welfare meeting with his family friends at around 6pm. As he was escorting one of the members accompanied by his cousin, they saw a group of young people approach from the opposite direction.

Says Warinda: “When we got close, I counted up eight people, one of them a lady. Five people passed us before the three blocked our path. We were surrounded.”

At this juncture, Warinda’s cousin got an opening and escaped. However, Warinda and his friend were not so lucky.

Miraculous escape

Warinda says three of the muggers held him, one of them trying to suffocate him. While he was still struggling to free himself, another group completed ransacking his friend before letting him go. They now turned to Warinda.

“They held me and tried to floor me as they warned they would kill me. I begged them not to kill me but to take whatever they wanted,” states Warinda faintly.

He then explains how four of the gang members held him as one prepared to stab him probably on the chest or stomach. This was the turning point.

Warinda says: “I stared at death as the dagger glittered in front of me. I got rare strength and struggled to free myself in the process losing my shirt and moving back a bit.”

When the gang realised that he was free and they could not get close to him again, they left in a hurry. At this point Warinda says he felt some warmth on his left leg. On checking, he realised that blood was flowing from his thigh.

“I didn’t feel any pain and as I walked on, I saw a man lying beside the path. Most likely he had been attacked earlier. I was too shaken to check on him,” recalls Warinda.

A few metres ahead Warinda found his equally shaken cousin who took him to a clinic in Dandora where first aid was administered before they went to hospital in Kiambu.

It was at the clinic that he realised that he had three stab wounds. Apart from his thigh, he had a severed vein on his wrist while the other prick had left a gaping wound on his upper back.

Warinda, who is a casual worker, cannot work until he fully recovers yet he does not know how he will take care of his five children.

Dangerous route

That Sunday evening saw Zedekiah Adika lose his uncle, Maurice Owino, to the gang at the same place. He says his uncle was initially sceptical about using the route.

Adika notes: “Maurice told me that there are young men who steal from people along the stretch but concluded that it was still early enough so he would just use the route. That is how he met his death.”

His anger is, however, directed at Kinyago Police Station officers who he says did not act fast when his cousin reported the matter that evening. He says if the officers acted quickly, Maurice would probably be alive.

He laments that the following day he had to fuel the police vehicle that came to pick his uncle’s body.

Adika says before the body was picked, he counted up to six people who came that morning to try and find their belongings, mostly the national identity cards after they had been mugged.

Rose Asiti, a resident of lucky Summer says robbery in the area is common because of the nearby dumpsite where young men pass time as they wait for their targets.

“The safest time to pas here is in the morning when those going to work pass as a group and evenings when people come back from work,” reveals Asiti.

School children are also in danger of being attacked or even raped on their way to school.

Local shopkeepers are afraid that their businesses will become a target if nothing is done fast as residents of Ngomongo, Lucky Summer and Dandora carry their lives in their hands till the security situation is addressed.