Dens of crime camouflaged as entertainment joints

They are patronised by the wealthy and mighty in society, but some of these Members' Only and Exclusive Clubs are meeting and planning points for criminals, writes DANN OKOTH

As the customers arrive, they are ushered in with a lot of courtesy like kings by waiters.

But as they settle down to have their meal or drink or whatever else they may need, a well-dressed attendant who has been hovering around their table for a while approaches and enquires if the guests would require anything extra.

Would they need something to make them high, much faster? he asks. The attendant also offers to make special arrangements to throw in a few ‘extras’ as well like exotic girls from Thailand to amuse them as they while away the evening.

Welcome to Nairobi’s upmarket Red Light District.

Tucked away in the leafy suburbs of Nairobi and in not-so-discreet locations in the city’s Central Business District are the so-called exclusive entertainment joints or Members Only clubs whose real operations are clandestine and only known to a few.

Also included in this category of ‘legitimate’ but suspect business outlets are the numerous business plazas that dot mainly the affluent parts of the city.

Facade of legitimacy

Investigation by CCI reveals that behind the facade of legitimacy and affluence lies a darker side to these facilities which are believed to be conduits for human and drug trafficking. They also serve as possible channels for gun selling, gun running and money laundering syndicates.

Police admit that there is a high likelihood that such places are being used to carry out such illegal activities and appeal to the public to help them bust the suspects.

"The fact that these places are private entities and have a lot to do with people’s privacy makes them a hard nut to crack when it comes to police investigation," said deputy police spokesman Charles Owino Wahong’o.

He said it is the duty of members of the public to cooperate with the police if they suspect something fishy is going on in these places.

"Without that it would be difficult to detect such activities because those who subscribe to these clubs are also members of a tightly knit and secretive society," he noted.

However, Wahong’o added that any such entities found to be in contravention of the law would be dealt with accordingly.

"People are free to enjoy themselves in whatever places they want as long as these places and whatever goes on in there is not in any way contravening the law," he said.

But for police to admit possible existence of crime in such premises does not help matters especially because some police officers are privy to the goings-on in such joints.

As CCI investigation revealed, operators of such facilities are becoming bolder by the day carrying out their activities with reckless abandon.

Months of investigation by this writer revealed that the joints, which are frequented by the high and mighty in the society, are also dens of inequity including illicit sex, drugs and crime.

High profile contract killings in the country are also believed to be arranged from such joints.

For starters it can be very difficult to access such establishments especially if one is not a paid up member.

Door opener

The CCI team had to part with thousands of shillings to gain entry into some such clubs, which we were investigating and which cannot be named for legal reasons. Other clubs, especially in the CBD, appeared to admit people rather easily especially late at night.

For the price of Sh5,000 or more, the bouncers would allow one into the club, but only after assigning a trusted attendant who would be by one’s side the whole night lest questions are raised about the presence of a non-member in the club.

In a couple of the clubs, this writer was variously introduced as a relative to a sitting Member of Parliament, a client of a prominent businessman or a cousin to a known criminal who is a member of the club being visited.

At a club in Parklands area, which is frequented by members of the Asian community, CCI discovered that foreign girls, possibly victims of human trafficking, work as prostitutes.

It is past midnight and a strikingly beautiful young lady of Asian origin approaches our table. Apart from extending her hand in greeting and muttering "Hello; how are you?" she cannot speak any more English.

I was later to learn she is from Thailand.

"You can have her for half the price if you can teach her English," jokes a waiter.

But again he warns that she belongs to the bosses and that I should watch my step.

I come to learn that since the girl arrived in the club two years earlier, she has never left.

"She stays in a hostel behind the club with other girls," whispers the waiter.

Indeed, soon, girls from the "hostel" swarm the club to begin their night routine.

A source in the Police Force says the girls are eventually reintegrated into the local population or carted out of the country for sexual slavery in a complicated web of human trafficking.

Kenya has been cited by the United Nations as the East African hub for human trafficking.

Everything about this club is secretive and entry is severely restricted. A police officer who happens to be a friend to one of the bouncers at the club helped this writer to gain entry.

"The bouncers would not talk to you if you are not a member let alone allowing you in," says the officer who requested not to be named because of possible reprisals from his bosses.

"Often in our own capacity as junior police officers we are unable to do anything because of the vested interests by our bosses in some of these matters. But through the media we hope some of these activities may be exposed," he says.

According to a client who identified himself only as Charles, the activities in these dens are appalling.

"I visited one of the clubs in Karen curious to sample what the high and mighty enjoy, but I was appalled at the degree of decadence," he says.

Drugs and sleaze

"I was shocked that sex and drugs are peddled openly in places associated with respectable people in society," he adds.

However, when it comes to drugs, the peddlers are more careful. They have learned their trade very well and know those to approach. It is really very simple as we came to learn. They know that few non-users or those who are not peddlers of drugs would know the street names of the drugs.

They would for instance ask a client if they required ‘blow’ meaning cocaine, the hard drug which is most common in the city’s underworld.

It is also variously known as ‘candy’, ‘monster’, ‘smoking gun’, ‘mojo’, ‘monster’, ‘pimp’, ‘girl’, ‘shot’, ‘Mama coca’, ‘snow’ and ‘sweet stuff’ among other names.

Heroine on the other hand is known as ‘Perfect High’, ‘smack’, ‘China white’ or ‘Capital H’ while Marijuana is called ‘Aunt Mary’, ‘boom’, ‘chira’, ‘ditch’, ‘ganja’, ‘greens’ and ‘Hash’.

Pressure has been mounting on the Government to try prominent Kenyans accused of being involved in drug trafficking.

Until 2008 there was no legal recourse for people caught in the vicious web of human trafficking until a draft legislation was presented in Parliament in May that year.

Thankfully, the current constitution recognises fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals as contained in the Bill of Rights.

Article 29 (1) under slavery, servitude and forced labour says that a person shall not be held in slavery or servitude and in (2) that a person shall not be required to perform forced labour.

But until this law came to force there were grey areas that gave human traffickers a leeway. The specific offence of trafficking in persons, for instance, did not exists in legislation of Kenya and the offence of "child stealing" had been used to prosecute some forms of child trafficking.

Even though the law now exists to check the crimes, it appears the Government is not keen to fight the menace.